A Criminally Haunted Love

Chapter 4 week 1 day 2

Pov change: bold
Thoughts: (this)
Journal entries: that
Dream sequences that might happen: you

Zoey
When she woke up she noticed that Mal was still asleep. (I'll take a shower while he's still asleep) She slowly got out of the bed and slowly walked over to her backpack and got the shampoo and conditioner. Then she made her way to the bathroom, unfortunately 124 year old piping wasn't quiet and she had to wait for not only the water to heat up but also for it to clear. In any case it almost took two hours before she could leave the bathroom and when she did Mal was grinning at her.
"Was the shower that good?" Mal asked.
"No, the piping is just that old, it took an hour and a half for not only the water to heat up but to clear up as well." She replied, as she looked for clothes.
"I thought we were supposed to be within eyesight of each other?" Mal asked, as she got behind the folding screen and took off her nightdress.
"Not to the bathroom, you can come back here now." She said.
"I was only joking." Mal replied, as he started to tie the laces of the corset.
"You're welcome." She said.
"But honestly how is that water heater still working, it's over a century year old?" Mal asked, as he tied the last lace.
"Just be happy that it does, now if you want to you can take a shower." She answered, as she shooed him to the other side of the folding screen, a couple minutes later she heard the water running. After she got dressed, she sat on the couch and looked at the engagement ring Mal dared her to wear. (If the Williams stay here had anything to do with marriage who did she yes to..... something had to have gone wrong if what happened to the families has anything to say about it) As she played with the ring, she heard a door open, when she turned around she saw Mal closing the bathroom door and was fully dressed.
"You ready?" She asked, Mal nodded his head, grabbed the cameras, handed one to her, and they left the room.
"Are we going to the fourth floor as well?" Mal asked her.
"How about you decide." She suggested, and smiled when Mal looked at her in shock.
"Let's check out the garden instead." Mal replied.
"When do you want to check out the garden?" She asked Mal, as they entered the kitchen.
"After breakfast, it won't be as hot, like it will be later." Mal answered her question as he started to cook breakfast.
"Hmm." She hummed in agreement, after that it was silent and it remained silent throughout breakfast and the walk to the garden.
"We won't be finding anything here." Mal commented, as they looked around the garden, and since everything was dead, they could see everything.
"Wait, I wouldn't be too sure of that yet." She said, and pointed at some really tall hedges.
"It's just some hedges." Mal replied.
"I know it's just hedges, but I think it's the beginning of a hedge maze." She said, then started walking towards the hedges, faintly aware that Mal was walking behind her. When they reached the hedges they found that it was indeed the beginnings of a hedge maze.
"We might find something in the center." She commented. (I hope)
"Maybe." Mal replied, instead of saying anything else, she walked into the maze with Mal following behind her, after a few minutes they reached the center of the maze.
"There's only a stone bench." Mal said, as they walked further into the clearing.
"Well let's check it out." She replied, and walked closer to the bench, she was surprised when she actually found something.
"Mal come here I found something." She called out.
"What did you find?" Mal asked her.
"This." She said, and held out a bunch of dead roses for Mal to see.
"What do a bunch of dead roses have to do with anything?" Mal asked, she noticed that Mal was looking at her like she was crazy.
"I don't know, but I bet these were beautiful when they were alive." She commented and looked down at the dead roses in her hands, she looked up when she felt a hand on her shoulder and saw that Mal was had walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, she tilted her head in confusion.
"You're looking at those like you did you first saw the engagement ring that you're wearing, but this time you also looked a little upset." Mal answered her unasked question.
"Oh... I wonder why?" She asked, mostly to herself.
"Are you hoping she chooses the 'good one'?" Mal asked.
"That question was rather sudden, but actually since the Williams stay most likely had something to do with a marriage proposal.... I'm just curious as to who she said yes to..... other than that I haven't given it much thought." She answered, as she dropped the roses and started playing with the ring on her finger.
"Why?" Mal asked, and she could tell that he was surprised by her answer.
"They're not us..... she's not me, whomever she chose was her decision, not mine." She answered.
"Are you hoping that she ends up with the 'good one'?" She repeated Mal's earlier question before Mal could respond to her answer.
"I don't care." Mal replied, she could tell that Mal was telling the truth....he really didn't care who the Zoey from over a century ago ended up with.
"Come on, let's go check out the third floor before it gets dark." She said.
"Curious?" Mal asked.
"Yeah." She answered. (I might be scared, but this place is amazing.... even though it has a dark history) As they walked she noticed that the closer they got to the mansion the more uncomfortable she got.
"Mal, are you getting an uncomfortable feeling?" She asked.
"Yeah." Mal answered.
"Me too." She replied. (Why are we getting an uncomfortable feeling for no reason) When they entered the mansion they saw a woman standing at the base of the staircase leading to the second floor before disappearing.
"Did...... did you....see that?" She asked, since her voice was shaking she had trouble asking the question.
"Yeah I did." Mal answered, after a few minutes of silence.
"I know I said this place was haunted but I wasn't expecting us to actually see a ghost." She said, while Mal closed the front door.
"What did you expect?" Mal asked, as they slowly and reluctantly walked towards the staircase.
"I don't know." She answered, as they walked up the stairs leading to the third floor.
"How about we search the right hallway first, then the one in front of us, then the hidden rooms." Mal suggested.
"Let's get started then." She said. As they searched the right hallway, they found some more guest bedrooms, a library, a smaller version of the sitting room on the first floor, a trophy room, and next to the staircase leading to the fourth floor was a study.
"This place is a mess." Mal commented, as they looked at the study from the doorway..... books, pieces of glass and important looking documents were scattered across the floor.... the only thing in the room that wasn't a complete mess was the desk, but even that had papers and knocked over knick-nacks on it.
"Hang on, what are you doing? Mal asked her, as she walked into the study.
"It's a destroyed study, there's got to be something important in here." She answered, then walked further into the study.
"So you're going to search through it, do you need my help?" Mal asked, as he walked into the room closing the door behind him.
"That would be greatly appreciated." She answered. (Is it just me or is Mal actually being..... nice..... I have no doubt he's the same as before.... but the devil may care makes him more attractive...... wait what)
"Blink." She heard Mal say.
"What?" She asked confused.
"You know if we were having a staring contest, you've won." Mal said, and to her, he sounded irritated.
"Sorry." She apologized.
"Wait, you were really staring at me?" Mal asked.
"I wasn't staring at you." She replied, while a blush spread across her cheeks.
"That blush says otherwise." Mal replied.
"I wasn't staring at you, besides if I was staring at you do I need a reason for doing so?" She asked, then her eyes widened when she realized the question could be used against her. (Don't use that against me)
"No reason... how curious, were you just staring at me because you felt like it, or is there a reason but you don't want to tell, which is even more curious.... so tell me which is it?" Mal asked with a smirk.
"Instead of questioning me, how about helping me." She said, try to change the subject.
"I'll make you a deal, I'll change the subject and help you if you tell me what happened to your cousin.... whenever you talk about him it's always in past tense." Mal replied.
"My cousin is....in juvie." She said the last two words reluctantly, and winced when she realized that Mal was staring at her in disbelief.
"Alright spill it, what did your cousin do to land him in juvie?" Mal asked her.
"Multiple cases of skipping school, running away, and one case of simple assault." She whispered, but she knew Mal heard her anyway.
"That doesn't explain why you can't visit him." Mal commented, and she winced, she didn't want to explain why she couldn't visit her cousin but she knew she had to tell him.
"I can't visit him because it was.....court ordered." She mumbled the last three words, but she knew Mal heard her, and from the look on his face he was shocked but he quickly got over it and started to laugh.
"It's not funny." She replied, as well as folding her arms across her chest.
"Yes it is, now how did someone as good as you end up being court ordered to not see your cousin?" Mal asked.
"Well I used to be able to visit him, but one day he joked about breaking out of the place and part of the joke was that I would help with the escape.... but I forgot that the conversations were monitored, and so the officers there thought we were being serious..... anyway to put it simply my cousin got another month and I'm not allowed to visit just in case those fake plans were actually real." She explained, then started to look through the desk drawers, then stopped.
"How did you end up in juvie?" She asked. (If we're telling each other secrets I want to know at least one of his)
"Most of the same stuff your cousin did, plus some more..... when does your cousin get out of juvie?" Mal asked, after he answered her question.
"Next month, and that answer was pretty straight forward." She commented.
"That's because I don't care if you know or not." Mal replied.
"If that's the case, is there anything else you would like to tell me?" She asked, but she knew Mal wasn't going to tell her anything else.
"Well I would but we got a mansion to explore." Mal replied, and the reply made her chuckle.
"Then the first thing you can do is help me with this desk." She said, and to make her point she patted the desk.
"Yes ma'am." Mal replied sarcastically, but helped her search the desk.
"Nothing, except this letter from what looks like the local court." She answered. (But it's almost expected, everything's been kind of easy until now)
"Don't dismiss it just yet." Mal replied, then grabbed the letter from her hands and read through it.
"What does it say?" She asked.
"In short, if Mr. Flores didn't find a way to give the contractors of the extra rooms an appropriate pay, the court would take away the house." Mal answered.
(That doesn't have anything to do with what we're searching for.... but there are a bunch of ways to get money)
"How do you think he got the money for the contractors?" Mal asked.
"He had more than enough money to give them the correct pay.... I'm guessing that the contractors got greedy and lied about their pay." She replied.
"So we didn't find anything in here?" Mal asked, she shook her head no, Mal sighed and walked to the door but when he turned the handle Mal realized the door was locked.
"Did you lock the door?" Mal asked her, confused she walked over to him and turned the handle only to get the same result as Mal.
"No did you?" She repeated the question.
"No." Mal answered her, realizing what that could mean she moved closer to Mal and grabbed his hand.
"Who's there?" Mal asked, to the hopefully empty room.
"Behind you."
She and Mal turned around and saw a transparent woman in her late thirties and dressed similarly to Zoey, standing in front of the desk.
"Who are you?" She asked the ghost, her voice was shaking a little, when she felt Mal squeeze her hand softly she smiled at him.
"Cora Flores." The ghost answered.
"What do you want?" She asked, her voice stopped shaking but she didn't let go of Mal's hand.
"Don't worry I won't hurt you, I just wanted to talk to you." Cora said.
"About what?" Mal asked.
"You need to leave." Cora warned them.
"Why?" She asked.
"The house is becoming dangerous, more so than before." Cora answered.
"How so?" Mal asked.
"Matthew and Thomas are becoming restless, they don't want you reading those journals.... the further you read the more restless they'll get, they'll start getting the other spirits in the house to attack you." Cora answered.
"But we can't...... the challenge." She replied worriedly.
"Ah yes the challenge..... well if you're so adamant about winning it, I would suggest reading the journals only in my daughter's room..... the room is a haven of sorts. As far as searching goes, search only during the day time unless my daughter's journal mentions a room, then you must hurry to it. When it comes to the attic it would be best if you wait to search it after you finish reading the journals." Cora warned them.
"Anything else?" Mal asked.
"Do you two have any questions?" Cora answered the question with a question.
"Why aren't you attacking us?" She asked.
"The answer is in the journals." Cora replied.
"Are there any paintings?" Mal asked.
"There are, but I don't know where my daughter put them." Cora answered.
"Are they here?" She asked, not knowing if she wanted the answer to be yes or no.
"I don't know, if they are they haven't shown themselves and I don't blame them if they are." Cora answered.
"Do we need to re-search any of the rooms?" Mal asked.
"I would suggest to look back over all the secret rooms including the dungeon." Cora replied, Mal winced while she whimpered at the suggestion.
"Yes I know the scene down there probably isn't pretty.... I wasn't there myself, but well when I heard about it.... I could only imagine, before you ask no I never went down there and I don't plan on going down there now....is there anything else you would like to ask?" Cora added the question to her answer, Mal and her looked at each other then back at Cora.
"No." Mal answered, Cora nodded her head before disappearing.
"Do you think the door is unlocked now?" She asked, instead of answering her Mal turned to face the door and since she was still holding his hand she was turned to face the door as well.
"Yes." Mal answered, as the door swung open.
"Then let's start searching the remaining rooms." She said, Mal nodded his head and they left the study and started walking towards the remaining hallway on the third floor.
"I'm going to take a guess and say you're taking up that offer about holding hands." Mal commented.
"What are you talking about?" She asked, the only thing Mal did was look down, she followed his gaze and saw that they were holding hands. She blushed and tried to let go but Mal wouldn't let her.
"Oh no, I'm not just going to let you let go of my hand only to end up holding it later." Mal said.
"But I-"
"None of your excuses are going to work." Mal interrupted her, but before she could respond, they had finally found Matthew Williams room..... well after they had searched the rest of the hallway to find the room.
"It looks like a tornado wrecked the place." She said.
"Could have been self-defense." Mal said.
"No, I don't think so." She replied.
"Then what do you think it was, if not self-defense?" Mal asked.
"Well the blood stain on the headboard is a clue, I'm guessing he was caught off guard and the only thing he could do was sit up." She answered.
"Then why is almost all the furniture broken?" Mal asked.
"Well at the time he had lost a son, I guess he was upset." She replied.
"Either way we're not going to find out anything by just standing here." Mal said, letting go of her hand, then walked over to the bed. She shook her head and walked towards the desk, as she searched she didn't find anything until she looked under it and saw a piece of paper.
"Hey Mal I think I found something!" She called out.
"No need to yell, I'm right here." Mal said, as she stood up.
"What did you find?" She asked.
"Just a bullet." Mal answered.
"I found this." She said, and handed the piece of paper to Mal.
"I'm sorry." Mal read from the piece of paper.
"Who's he apologizing to?" She asked.
"I don't know but I think that's all we're going to find in here." Mal said, she nodded her head and they left the room. Once they were standing in front of where the secret hospital room was she and Mal looked at each other.
"You're going in first." She said and gave Mal a little push towards the wall, Mal rolled his eyes and flipped the light switch that would open the door.
"There's not a lot of stuff in here." Mal commented as they walked around the secret hospital room.
"Medicine had increased greatly at the time, but they could only do so much. This room is basically a first aid kit but it does have some stuff that would help in extreme cases..... like someone going into labor." She replied.
"There's nothing here." Mal said after they searched almost every inch of the room.
"Shall we search the last room on this floor then?" She asked, jokingly.
"Yes we shall." Mal replied in the same manner.
"Let's go." She said, and walked towards the door. (I'm surprised that I actually enjoy being in Mal's company.... but I am enjoying it, is it wrong though) Once they were standing in front of the secret room, she pushed the wall and what they saw shocked them.
"I know that the journal said this room was a playground but this is....." She trailed off, as she and Mal walked on the gravel covered floor.
"It's less of a shock than the dungeon." Mal commented, looking around the room which held several monkey bars, climbing bars, a couple of se-saws, a slide and a couple of swings.
"Everything is made of metal." Mal commented.
"I don't think plastic was invented at the time the room was built." She replied, and walked over to one of the swings and sat down, Mal followed and sat down on the swing next to her's.
"If that's what you think, then what do you know?" Mal asked, smirking.
"I know that we are trying to solve a 107 year old murder-suicide case, that is mostly based on rumors." She said sarcastically.
"Sarcasm aside, we do have those journals and the other clues to work with." Mal replied.
"It'll take forever to read through those journals." She said. (How are we going to finish reading those journals in only three weeks)
"That's why I suggest we take the next couple of days just reading the journals." Mal replied.
"That could work." She mumbled, but she knew Mal heard her. When Mal stood up and held out his free hand towards her, she looked at him in confusion until she realized what he was doing. (What a gentleman, not that I'm going to tell him that) She placed her free hand in his and Mal quickly pulled her up, and just as quickly let go of her hand.
"While I highly doubt there is anything in here, it'll probably be for the best if we searched the room." Mal said, then started to walk towards the other side of the room, she watched Mal for a couple of minutes before searching the room as well. After about half an hour later she walked back to the swings where Mal was standing.
"Did you find-" Before Mal could finish his sentence they heard running coming down the stairs that led to the attic.
"Run faster!" A male voice.
"I can't!" A female voice, after that they heard what sounded like two bodies falling down stairs, and from the sounds of it... the stairs to the second floor.
"I'm honored that you think I'm able to protect us from ghost but I'm not able to do that." Mal commented.
"What?" She asked, in confusion until she realized that she was hugging Mal. She quickly let go and took a couple steps back.
"I didn't mean to." She grumbled, she could feel a blush spreading across her cheeks.
"So you think I'm your knight in shining armor." Mal said, teasing her.
"For the duration of our stay here, you are." She replied, she knew Mal was teasing her but she thought it would be funny if he thought she was serious.
"Well in that case your highness I'm sorry to inform you, but I've never faced foes like these, I don't think I can beat them." Mal said, jokingly this time, and it made her laugh softly.
"Did you find anything?" She asked.
"No, did you?" Mal repeated the question.
"No." She answered.
"It should be at least a little safe to leave the room now." Mal said, then started walking towards the door.
"Wait!" She called out, then quickly walked over to Mal and grabbed his hand, Mal looked at her with the one eyebrow she could see raised, she blushed. When Mal didn't say anything and just started to walk again, she didn't know if she should be relieved or not. As they walked to the kitchen they didn't talk, in fact they didn't talk until they got to their room.
"How about instead of reading the journals tonight, we check out one of the secret rooms." Mal suggested, as he closed the door to the bedroom.
"Which room?" She asked.
"The ballroom." Mal answered.
"Planning on asking me to dance?" She asked, teasingly.
"No, just thought I'd see if you could actually play the piano." Mal replied.
"So you think I can't play." She accused.
"Well if you can prove me wrong." Mal said.
"Alright, let's go to the ballroom." She said, they left the room and headed straight to the secret ballroom.
"I'm surprised we didn't hear or see any ghost on the way here." She commented, as they walked up the mosaic staircase.
"Well maybe we'll get to see some on the way back." Mal said sarcastically, as they walked over to the piano.
"Wait the piano is out of tune." She said, as she was about to sit down on the bench. (How could I have forgotten that the piano was out of tune)
"I know...... I'd just thought I'd see if you would actually leave the room after dark." Mal replied.
"Well you got me here, I want one dance." She said.
"What?" Mal asked, and she could tell she surprised him.
"You brought me here, now I want one dance." She said.
"I don't dance." Mal replied.
"Well now you do." She said, grabbing his hand and dragging him down the stairs. (Why am I insisting on this, he doesn't dance....in fact I don't dance) She sat her video camera down, as well as Mal's, then dragged Mal to the middle of the room and placed the hand she wasn't holding on her waist.
"This wasn't what I had in mind." Mal said.
"And I thought you couldn't dance." She replied, then giggled at the look of surprise when Mal figured out they were dancing. Mal glared at her but she just smirked at him, they continued to dance for the next couple of minutes.
"There you got your dance." Mal grumbled, when they came to a stand still.
"Yes I did, now shall we go back?" She asked, letting go of Mal's hand and took a step back, Mal nodded his head so they got their video cameras and left the room.
"Have you danced before?" Mal asked her, as they quickly made their way back to their room.
"No, I've never danced before." She answered. (Are you really curious if I have danced before now) As they entered their room and Mal locked the door, she put the video cameras on their chargers and walked behind the folding screen.
"Then how do you know do you know how to dance?" Mal asked.
"I could ask you the same thing, you can come back here now." She answered.
"Well I've never danced before, so I don't know." Mal said, as he started to unlace the corset on her.
"So we both learned to dance in a matter of seconds?" She asked. (How is that possible)
"I wouldn't think too hard on it." Mal replied, before walking back to the other side of the folding screen.
"Why shouldn't I?" She asked.
"We have more important things to think about than our sudden ability to dance..... but I'd rather not know the answer anyway." Mal answered.
"Point." She said, stepping out from behind the folding screen, and walked to the bed while Mal walked behind the folding screen. (He really is a good dancer, not that I'll tell him that..... that ballroom is rather beautiful at night I wonder if Mal noticed)
"Hello."
"Huh." She said, looking around and noticed Mal was sitting down on his side of the bed, looking at her.
"What are you thinking about?" Mal asked.
"Nothing important." She answered.
"I don't believe you." Mal said.
"Goodnight Mal." She sing-songed the reply, before turning off the lamp and laying down, not long after she felt Mal turn off his lamp and laying down, not long after that she fell asleep.
Mike
(He..... she, no I can't think like that...... there's nothing going on..... I'm just worried and jealous, nothing is going on)
"Yo, if we didn't know her and him, I would say something was going on between them."
He snapped out of his inner, inner dilemma to glare at Vito.
"If that's nothing, then I need to rethink my definition of something." Chester chimed in, he turned his glare from Vito to Chester.
"Nothing is going on between Zoey and Mal." He growled out.
"We know Mike, they just don't have anything else to talk about." Svetlana said, laying a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"She's right, we have more important things to worry about than something that's not even there." Manitoba said, walking up to him.
"Like the warnings." He replied.
"Yeah." Svetlana said, enthusiastically.
"I don't know what we can do." He said.
"Unfortunately not much.... luckily those warnings were helpful." Manitoba replied.
"To change the topic, what about them not finding anything in those secret rooms?" He asked.
"Well what if it's like them finding the rooms?" Svetlana asked.
"What are you talking about?" Manitoba asked.
"You know, when Mal and Zoey read those journals they were able to find the rooms. They might have to find more stuff in those rooms through the journals." Svetlana explained.
"You have a point, but we can't help them....at least until Mal decides to talk to us again." Manitoba said.
"Yo, the only time Mal is going to talk to us is when he wants to.... which is never." Vito joined in on the conversation.
"He has to talk to us eventually." Svetlana said.
"Yeah, when he wants to flaunt his newfound relationship with Zoey." Vito replied.
"There is no relationship between them." He growled out.
"Yeah right, she's told him more stuff to him than you, the flirting and now what happened tonight, if this was a contest Mal would be winning." Chester added his thoughts to the conversation.
"Don't listen to them Mike, you know Mal has no feelings for her, and Zoey has no feelings for him. As far as Zoey telling him more about herself to him than you is probably because she thought you would react badly. Since they have no feelings for each other there's no flirting, they're just trying to make a terrifying situation less terrifying... that includes the hand holding and the hug. The dance was just that a dance nothing more nothing less, the most they're going to be is friends... just like she is with the rest of us." Svetlana said, stepping in front of him so he wasn't looking at Vito and Chester.
(She's right there is nothing to worry about other than the house)
"You're right." He said.
"Of course I am Mike." Svetlana replied.
(Zoey knows what she's doing, I trust her and the only thing I can trust about Mal is that he doesn't like almost anything)

Note: I don't know anything about the justice system, I just googled what I found so if I messed something up I'm sorry, I know it probably seems like I'm updating this story more than secret prophecy but that's because I already written most of this story down in a notebook while secret prophecy I didn't.... everything in secret prophecy is at the top of the moment