Kenneth Manor (Haunted)

Chapter Nine

Groggily, I lifted my head from its cramped position. My hands were pinioned behind me, bounding me so tightly, I felt that the blood wasn’t circulating through my hands from my wrist.

I looked around me. I was in the forest. Again. But I wasn’t alone this time. Tied to the trees around me were not only Trevor, Xavier, and Charlie, but my mom, dad, and two brothers. In the center of the eight of us, a large group of sticks were in the middle, creating what looks like a tepee. It was dark outside; the full moon shining down on us. However, the moonlight was blocked by the torches that suddenly lit up around me. I could clearly see the faces of everyone around me. Including a new face that rose out of the branches. Amy’s face.

“Welcome. I’m so glad you can make it to my little party,” Amy said after she laughed at us. “I know you all are tied up...but I do appreciate the effort. Angela, I am very pleased to see you all here.”

“Angela,” my mother asked. “What’s going on? How does this woman know who you are?”

“It’s a long story,” I told her.

“Amy, let us go,” Xavier calmly tried to reason with her. “What happened to you and your family was more than forty years ago. You need to stop this madness.”

From looking like a complete sweetheart to an evil goddess, Amy said, “No! I was murdered before I could help myself. I could have been redeemed! But no. Your wretched father had to send a hitman to kill me! Now, since your father died of a heart attack not long ago, you must pay the price.”

“Fine. Hurt me, torture me, do whatever you want but let these people go. They are innocent, and they did nothing wrong to you,” he replied. “Please. I’m begging you; please just let them go.”

I have to admit, now that I see Xavier trying to save and help us, I wish I hadn’t accused him of lying earlier.

“Xavier, you don’t have to do this!” screamed Charlie from the other side of the circle. “We’re all in this together.”

Quinn, who was to my right, started to move his arms slightly. He and I locked eyes, turning his head to where the rope was bound to his arms. He was about fifteen feet away from me so we couldn’t communicate by just talking. There was a stick on his hands. He nodded his head ever so slightly.

I don’t know whether to think that he’s brilliant, or stupid but brave. On one hand, he could get out of here and get help, but, knowing my older brother, he would stay here and help until our parents, Adam, and I were out of there safely.

While he was still looking at me, I shook my head. I wanted him to be free, but I don’t want him getting hurt.

“I’m sure your parents are wondering why they’re here, Angela,” Amy smiled. “I mean, someone they’ve never met before, let alone a ghost, kidnaps them, and wakes up in a forest with their beloved family member tied up to a tree with her new friend she made at school, one man they met before, and one man they’ve never met before. What makes it really stressful is that their two handsome sons are tied up with the rest of them. I’m sure you didn’t tell them about your gift.”

“No,” I said, “I haven’t.”

“No? Well, I thought it was obvious,” she laughed.

“What do you mean?” I asked. “I haven’t seen any of my talent that both you and Xavier claim that I have.”

Amy smiled when she walked--floated, however ghosts travel--tilted her head, and kneeled to look straight in my eyes. In my dream, the very first time that I saw her, she had deep green eyes. Now all that’s left is a gray transparent image of what her eyes looked like when she was alive.

“When I was alive, I met Xavier’s father, Marcus,” she began. “He had told me that I possessed extraordinary powers, and, just like you with Xavier, I didn’t believe a word he said. Then, one day at school, I was embarrassed by the meanest girl in school, Katie Gartile. I ran out of the school, and I was so embarrassed I said that I wanted to die. Immediately after I thought that, I saw a man pull out a gun and shoot himself. Later, of course, I found it was only a ghost, and he wasn’t a real man. It was too late of course.”

“What happened?” I dared to ask.

“After a few similar accidents like that. Ghosts appearing out of nowhere and literally doing the things I wanted to do. When I hadn’t eaten in a day, I said I could eat a horse. I turned to look out my window to see a woman actually eating a horse. Things like that,” Amy kept on keeping that angelic smile plastered to her face. “I went back to Marcus. I had told him of the weird events I’d seen, and begged them to make them go away. He told me that they wouldn’t go away. Once you practice your powers, they will be a part of your life. He was the one who told me to keep on exercising my powers, to push myself to the limit, so that I could one day, raise the dead.”

“He had wanted to see Mom one more time didn’t he?” Xavier asked. I had been so immersed with the story, I had forgotten he was there. “He wanted you to bring her soul back just so that he could talk to her.”

“Yes,” Amy replied. “Marcus had just used me to get what he wanted, and for what? He would have disposed of me, leaving me to deal with the people who think I’ve gone crazy with the things I say. Including my parents.”

“Look, Amy--” Xavier started.

“No!” she barked. “I don’t want to hear another word out of you.”

She turned back to me.

“Now, where was I?” she asked. “Right. Marcus. When I found out the real reason why he wanted me to exercise my powers, I was furious. I raised an army of ghosts, and somehow, through my emotions, I solidified them. They could pick up objects around them without needing to use electromagnetic energy. They looked to me, and one of them had said, ‘We await your orders.’” Amy’s eyes then turned all black. “I told them to rip out his heart.”

“Wait,” I said. “I thought Marcus died of a heart attack. Coincidental, considering that he died because of his heart. What happened?”

“My parents came out of the house to see what was the problem. What I didn’t know about spirits back then was that they are easily distracted. They heard the noise, and they paused to look at my parents. I told them again to rip out the heart, but they went for them instead. Marcus ran away to avoid being hit. I obviously went to jail for their murder, even though I never intended for them to die in the first place.”

“It wasn’t his fault; you were going to kill him!” Xavier screamed.

“Quiet! He was a coward.”

“He tried to help you get out of jail!” he screamed. “He tried to convince James and Bella that you didn’t intend for them to die.”

“Yes, James and Bella thought I needed help, and they were almost going to send me to the insane asylum. I was released from prison because they didn’t have any evidence that I was the one who killed my parents. James and Bella cut off all communication with me, and, later, they both died in a train accident.”

“I’m sorry for you, Amy, but what does this have to do with me?” I asked.

“Marcus told me that I had the ability to control ghosts by my emotions. You and I, we have the same gift.”