Haunted in the Night

Chapter Twelve- Part One

Chapter Twelve.
Everything seemed to be going in slow motion, especially Claire’s mind, as soon as she had managed to open the front door everything seemed just a blur, the blood, the dead body of a man, people rushing over to see what had happened, to get their gossip, Bob rushing over to her to see if she was alright.
He had spoken to her but she hadn’t heard it, all she could do was stand there, emotionless, frozen, her eyes glazed over as if she were in a daze, she practically was, nothing was fully sinking in.
People around her were staring at her and whispering to each other like she was a freak, a freak who had caused all this mess, and she believed it, Sam had followed her here and now this had happened, a big scandal murder right in front of her cabin, over her.
A few moments later Chad had walked up to her, put his hand on her shoulder and asked if she was alright, she couldn’t reply, she knew if she did that she would crumble in front of everybody and then that would just make the leeches even more excited, instead she just hugged him, wrapping her arms around his stomach as she hid her face in his chest.
For a moment he stood there shocked, not sure on what to do but after a second he put his arms around her shoulders and held her.
“How about we get you two inside?” Bob suggested, placing his hand on Chad’s shoulder to lead them both inside, Claire didn’t want to pull away from Chad’s embrace, she didn’t want people to see her face and he assumed that so he still kept hold of her shoulders, tucked her into his side and lead her instead, using his body to hide her from the nosy onlookers.
“I’ll get you both some tea" Bob had said as he quickly started working his way around the kitchen and Chad sat Claire down at the table, he sat in front of her but still made sure to at least have hold of her hands.
Claire made a noise, a sort of grunt that showed she had no interest in tea right now and Bob had instantly understood that.
“I’ll make you some hot chocolate instead" he told her as he continued with what he had been doing.
“Claire can you look at me?” Chad asked her softly but firm at the same time, he needed to know that she was alright and this behaviour was scaring him slightly, he had only ever seen her this way once, right when her parents had gone missing and she left town, she wouldn’t speak to anyone, not Bob, not even Helena at the time, not even him and he didn’t want her to go back to that dark place, she had done so well to get out of it the first time, and she still wasn’t fully out of it, the shadows still beckoned for her and now here they were swallowing her up once more.
She made another noise, something like a whimper, her face scrunched up in pain as the memories flashed before her eyes.
“Claire listen to me, you need to snap out of it, your alright, your safe, I’m here, Bob’s here" Chad tried to comfort her as he tried to pull her back to earth.
“Chad maybe she just needs time, the ambulance will be here soon, why don’t you go out and meet them, tell them what happened, keep the gossip loving women from spinning them some yarns for attention" Bob suggested to Chad who looked very uncertain but when he looked back at Claire’s distant face he decided there was no harm in trying to give her some space.
As soon as Chad had exited Bob took his seat and looked her in the eye, even though her eyes were still distant and far away.
“I know what you are thinking and it is not your fault, this was all Sam, he was the cause of his own death, not you, if it hadn’t have been you it just would have been some other poor innocent girl" Bob said to her and pain etched across her face again.
“He was the first person I’ve ever killed" Bob admitted to her and some of her self returned to her eyes as she looked at him confused, he had been the one who had shot Sam? She hadn’t known, she had just seen the aftermath, Sam’s dead bloody body on the ground when she had opened the door, that was when everything had blurred to her.
“He went at Chad with a knife, I had just pulled up, I instantly pulled out my gun, told him to put the knife down, he didn’t, he lunged for Chad and I fired, I shot him dead, right in the head” Bob explained to her what had happened out the front of her little cabin.
“You’d never shot anyone before?” she asked softly, her voice very quiet, almost timid.
“Not humans no, animals yes, but he was my first human, blank years on the job and I’d never shot anyone before, I’d been very lucky for that" he told her and she instantly felt guilty.
“I’m sorry" she told him and he looked at her in confusion.
“Why?” he asked her and she put her head down in shame.
“It’s my fault you had to kill him, it’ll probably haunt you now and it’s all my fault, I should never have come back here, then you wouldn’t have had to kill him" she replied, tears finally falling from her eyes as she let it out.
“I’m glad I was the one to kill him, if I hadn’t he could have hurt you and Chad, then he would have went onto his next victim, and what if you hadn’t come here? Then he could have hurt you and your grandparents, anyway there is no point dwelling on it now, it’s over, his gone and can’t hurt anybody else” Bob told her but it didn’t make her feel all that much better.
“What about Chad?” she asked nervously, worried about what he was going to think about her now.
“Well his tougher than he looks, and I know he would do anything to protect you, he showed that just now, he was willing to stand up to Sam to protect you” Bob replied and she nodded, she was so grateful for both of them, they had protected her and perhaps saved her life, she honestly had no idea on what she would do if she didn’t have them in her life.
“Speaking of Chad, how are you two?” he asked and Claire instantly gulped nervously.
“We uh kissed tonight” she admitted shyly, a blush creeping up her cheeks as she fiddled with her fingers.
“So are you two dating?” he asked, even though it seemed inappropriate right now with the timing of everything, Sam’s dead body was still out the front of her cabin and she was in here blushing over a guy she was falling for.
“I don’t honestly know, he wants me to stay here with him, kept pushing the question actually but I have no idea on what to do, if I want to stay, if I want to go, if I can be happy here if I stay with him or if the bad memories will eat me alive, I’m just so confused” she explained to Bob frustration flowing off her in waves.
“I understand that and I’m sure Chad would too if you explained that to him” Bob told her, she knew he was right but she didn’t want to hurt Chad by telling him that she is unsure.
“Knock, knock” Chad said as he opened the door a little and poked his head in.
“Come in Chad” Bob spoke loudly as he stood up and went back into the kitchen, getting back to the drinks.
“I told the ambulance officers what happened, they have taken the body away” he told Bob who made a grunt to tell Chad that he heard him.
Chad however eyed Claire off, who put her head down shyly and he sighed before retaking the seat in front of her.
“Claire are you alright?” he couldn’t help but ask, he was scared for her.
“I’m alright” she replied quietly, she didn’t know what else to say to him.
“I’m sorry about what happened in the car” he told her, referring to the kiss and how he had pushed for an answer from her and she had ran from him.
“It’s okay, I just got overwhelmed” she replied and he nodded his head while looking down.
“Just give it a think over okay?” he asked and she nodded in reply but didn’t say anything else.
“Well I’ll head off” he said as he stood up but Bob was having none of it.
“No you will not, sit back down, I have your drink” he said as he placed all the drinks down before sitting himself down and taking a big sip of his tea.
“Thanks” Chad had said before taking the cup and having his own sip, Claire however had hot chocolate but she didn’t have the stomach for it, not after seeing what she had seen, she was worried drinking or eating anything it would curdle and come back up.
“Claire you need to drink something, you are in shock” Bob told her firmly and slowly she grabbed the cup, looking down at the liquid, she didn’t even manage to take a sip before she dropped the cup and bolted for the bathroom.
She emptied her stomach into the toilet, all the lunch she had with Chad now in waste, her body shook violently, finally she managed to reach up to flush the toilet, then she gasped for breath as she slowly laid down on the wooden floor boards, they were cool, soothing for her seeming as her body temperature had risen from being ill.
“Claire is everything okay in there?” Bob asked through the door after she had been silent for a little while.
“I’ll be out in a minute" she replied, however she didn’t reply on the whether she was alright part, because she had no idea.
Slowly she got up off the floor, her whole body was sore, her muscles ached, leaning against the sink she turned on the cold water, splashing some on her face, she took her time brushing her teeth, making sure to clean out her entire mouth and then some.
By the time she slowly made her way out to the kitchen Chad was gone and Bob was sitting down on the couch with a nice warm fire going, he smiled at her softly when he noticed her standing there awkwardly.
“Come sit down, warm yourself, Chad told me to tell you he will check in on you tomorrow” he told her as she slowly went and sat down next to him, enjoying the warmth coming from the fire, now that her body temperature had dropped back to normal she was noticing the chill in the air.
“I’m falling for him” she told him randomly and he smiled at her again.
“I know, and I know your scared but why not give him a chance? Give this place a chance again? If it doesn’t work out then you can leave and go become a criminal profiler, at least then you can’t say you didn’t try, and who knows you might be happy here again” he told her and it provided her comfort.
It was close to what she knew her grandparents would tell her, a few times they had tried to convince her to come back here, even if it was just a short stay, just to see Helena again and such, to give this place a chance to not be filled with regret.
“I’ll think about it” she replied as he nodded and handed her a new cup of hot chocolate, he had obviously cleaned up the smashed one that she had dropped when her stomach had lurched.
“You need to at least have something” he told her, she knew he was right and she was feeling a lot better now so she took a small sip, letting it soothe her sore throat.
“I think I might head off to bed, I don’t have the stomach for dinner and I’m probably guessing that you don’t either” Bob said after a little while as he stood up and looked down at her.
She shook her head and he nodded to let her know he understood before he made his way to the hall.
“Good night Bob” Claire said quietly but he still managed to hear her.
“Good night little one” he said before he fully disappeared from her sight and went into the bedroom, closing the door but left it open just a crack.
Claire sat for a while, just watching the fire burn, slowly turning to ambers and coal, she had no idea how late it actually was but she knew it would have to be close to midnight.
She couldn’t seem to be able to clear her head of that image, the image of blood, brain splatter and the dead body, it was like it was another thing haunting her now, stopping her from closing her eyes to try to sleep, she knew even in the waking world she couldn’t escape it so why would she be able to in the sleeping world.
Slowly her eyes drooped shut but every time they did Sam’s dead face would flash before her eyes and she would gasp as her eyes would fly right back open in a rush, her heart beating a million miles per hour, she knew she wouldn’t get much sleep tonight, if any at all.
Eventually Claire was too exhausted to fight sleep, her whole body ached and she fell into a deep sleep filled with nightmares.
His teeth covered in blood, it was dripping from his mouth, his eyes a bluish white, cold and dead, his skin pale and pasty, cold fingers reaching out for her, she stood there frozen in fear, she could not move as he stroked her cheek, she could see her breath mist the cold air, as her body trembled under his touch, suddenly he growled, like he was an animal and his fingers on his cheek turned to his nails as he cut down her skin, she let out a cry of pain, the flesh burning as he tore it, his dead eyes shining in enjoyment.