a cold summer

Chapter Seven ~ The Truth Will Out

I didn't feel safe in my house anymore. I had no idea how long I would need to stay in a hotel so I packed enough clothes for three days. I also grabbed some toiletries and food as well as my computer and phone.

I was still unable to comprehend what had just happened. My friends were murdered by vengeful ghosts. And my house is probably haunted. Worst of all, they're probably going to come after me now.

Saying that out loud sounded so ridiculous I almost thought it sounded made up.  But it wasn't. I knew that now.

Still, it just didn't seem right. But the fact was, nothing seemed right about their murder. There was no obvious cause of death and it randomly started snowing in the space of ten seconds in the middle of the summer, before returning back to normal in the space of twenty minutes. There was nothing right about this. All I could do was remain calm and trust that Stella, Barry and Geoff could fix this.

But what exactly would they do? Once they found enough evidence that Jesse and Isa were killed by those two kids, how would they get rid of them? You can't arrest ghosts. And you can't kill them either because they're already dead. Would they exorcise them? I figured they would just cross that bridge when they got there.

I finished up with my packing and took my suitcase downstairs. I took the opportunity to look around as I walked down the stairs. I would certainly miss this house. Only now did I realise how happy I was here. Especially since I wasn't sure if I could ever return here, what with evil spirits lurking in it or something.

It was a perfect size, lots of space but not too big that it was a hassle to clean. The garden was full of beautiful flowers and lush, green grass. Not to mention being next to a luscious green forest which was great for jogging through in the morning. And the beach. Sure, it was a tiny and rather cold beach, but it was still a beach. The pier running through the beach and into the lake held so many happy memories. Mostly of us jumping in, or pushing each other in for that matter.

But the thing I would miss most of all was the loch. It made for such a beautiful view, especially in the summer when the suns rays glistened during the day. It was always the perfect temperature to swim in. I had done so many of my fieldwork investigations in it as well which I had used to write outstanding essays for university.

Heck, I even liked it in the winter when the loch froze over. When that happened, Jesse, Isa and I would sometimes ice skate over it. Or just slide around in our shoes. It was particularly hilarious when someone fell in. Of course, that only happened when it was particularly cold.

Wait.

I remembered something that Barry had said. When the kids were killed by drowning in the loch, it was -26 degrees celsius. The coldest temperature ever recorded. But the loch usually freezes over at 0 degrees. So if the kids fell out of the tree and landed on the loch at -26 degrees, the loch would be frozen, and the impact of the fall onto ice would have killed them. The ice would be so thick that the impact of the fall wouldn't be enough to break it.

So how could they have drowned?

I suddenly began to feel uneasy. I remembered discovering Jesse and Isa's bodies. The loch definitely wasn't frozen, because I was swimming in it. And they were floating in it.

Stella had also said that the weather conditions were identical to the day that Mr Astor died. As in, -26 degrees. But the air didn't feel that cold. I ran through the garden in my swimsuit without catching hypothermia as well as ran on some snow in my bare feet. That should have ice burned them.

Something was wrong. And it did strike me as odd that the paranormal investigation team (or PIT as Xara called them) had found so much research in the space of one day. It was also suspicious that Xara was so quick to write the murder off as a ghost attack.

There was definitely something off about this murder. And I needed to find out what.

However, as I began to walk for the door, the power suddenly cut out. I glanced around nervously.

Laughter echoed around the house.