“What happened Jen?” Mike asked as he dropped ice cubes into a glass. “One second you were there and the next you were gone.” He poured a golden brown liquid into the glass.
Tracy was sitting right beside Jen with her arm wrapped around her trying her best to comfort her. They were rocking back and forth, Jen’s face still wet from the tears.
“I’m not sure what happened.” She took the small glass from Mike, took a big gulp, and let out a small cough as the harsh liquid burnt on the way down. She cleared her throat and followed it up with a small sip. “As soon as you let go it was like something grabbed my legs and just started pulling me.” She took another sip. “A second later something grabbed my arms and I shot off in the other direction.”
Mike was in the kitchen again filling another small glass with ice and followed it with some of the golden brown liquid. “Trace?” He held up his glass.
“Please.”
He grabbed another glass and filled it up in the same manner then walked over, sat on the other side of Jen, and handed Tracy her drink. “You didn’t see anything?”
Jen shook her head as she took another sip of her drink. “I didn’t see anything, just felt.”
“I have never been around anything like that.” Tracy took a sip of her drink and she too let out a small cough as the brown liquid bit at her throat. It was obvious she wasn’t used to the harshness of the bourbon from the loud noise she made after she swallowed. “I have heard about stuff like that happening but never been there when it did.” She took another sip of her drink and shuddered as she swallowed.
“Well we are out of there and safe now so just try and relax,” Mike placed his hand on Jen’s upper leg and squeezed. “Won’t have to go back in there so you’re safe.”
Jen took another sip of her drink and nodded her head. “I didn’t have any idea where I was. I just remembered being pulled and then next thing I knew I was in the wardrobe.” She took another sip. “I didn’t know anything, just…” Her voice broke.
“You don’t have to talk about it.” Mike said. “Only if you want to.”
Tracy pulled her phone out of her pocket and looked at the time. A worried look began to overtake her face. She dialed a number then held it to her ear as it began to ring through. “Where are you?” She said into the phone before hanging up and placing it on the coffee table.
“Where is he?” Jen asked knowing who she was talking about.
“I don’t know but he said he would only be a few minutes and it’s way longer than that.” She took a large sip of her drink and let out a small cough.
“Do you want something else?” Mike asked. “I can get you something less harsh.”
“No it’s fine, just not used to it.” She forced a smile as she sat her drink down. “Just starting to worry about him.”
“We’ll give him about ten more minutes then I’ll go look for him.”
“What?” Jen asked with a look of worry on her face.
“It’ll be ok babe.” He rubbed her leg. “I will just fly over and find him real fast and I’ll come right back ok.”
“Chances are he is just in the middle something and lost track of time. He does that stuff all the time.” Tracy forced a smile.
“You look worried though.” Jen said as she noticed the look on her face.
“Just with what happened... He does do this all the time though.”
The next ten minutes seemed to crawl by. Tracy stared at her phone as she took small sips of her drink. Jen sat bundled in a blanket sipping on her second drink and Mike had joined Tracy in staring at her phone except for the time he got up to get Jen’s refill.
After the ten minutes had passed Mike took a deep breath, he wasn’t looking forward to going back to the house right now but he would rather he went than Tracy. “Well it’s been ten minutes.” He said as he stood up and gently pried his hand out of Jen’s grasp.
“I’ll call again real quick.” Tracy picked up her phone and dialed Grant’s number. She sat there as the phone rang and rang. “Where are you?” She angrily hung up and brought the phone down to her leg. “I don’t know.”
“It’s ok I’ll just run over and get him.” He bent down kissed Jen on her forehead and made his way to the door. “I’ll be right back.” He turned and gave her a smile. “I promise.” He felt pretty secure in his promise, even with all that happened he had never really felt fear for himself it was more for Jen. He still wasn’t all that thrilled to go he had to admit. He opened the door and walked out to his car. He made the quick drive over to the house, took a deep breath, and let out a big sigh before he climbed out of the car.
As he opened the door, the house was still well lit. He slowly walked into the house looking around in every direction half expecting something to jump out at him. “Grant?” He yelled. He quickened his pace and made his way through the living room. He stopped at the home base table and began to look at the monitors, he figured this way he could eliminate three areas of the house at once. He wasn’t on any of the monitors so now he at least knew where not to look. I’ll start from the top. He thought to himself. He made his way back through the house and up the stairs. He knew Grant wasn’t in any of the rooms with cameras so he started in the room that sat between the wardrobe room and the room with the drawings on the walls.
When he walked into the room he could tell that his hunch was correct and in fact it was Wes’s bedroom. The walls all had either paintings or picture frames. There were family pictures of him and his parents and there were even some of the two of them from when they were kids. The paintings were all forest themed. One had a log cabin in the middle of dense woods and another was of a large lake surrounded by trees. The large bed that protruded from the far wall was framed in an antique sleigh frame. On the opposite wall was a large dresser with a mirror that stood two thirds to the ceiling. “No way that you decorated this yourself.” He said out loud. As he looked around, he noticed that he did not see the reason he had come over in the first place, no Grant.
As he turned to walk out of the room he nearly jumped out of his skin as he came face to face with Grant. “Jesus Christ!” Mike grabbed his chest as if to stop his heart from leaping out. “What the hell man?”
“Oh, I am so sorry.” Grant took a step back giving Mike space. “I thought I heard someone walking around so I came to check it out.”
After Mike’s heart calmed down and he caught his breath he stood up tall. “Where have you been man?”
“Been looking around the house.”
“Tracy is worried.”
“Is she?” Grant said with a hint of surprise.
“Of course she is.” Mike looked at him puzzled. “You said you’d be a few minutes and it’s been about forty-five.”
“Oh, I get caught up sometimes.”
“Yeah but with what happened tonight I think she is a bit more worried about you than usual.”
“She usually worries about me?”
Mike was surprised by this but looking at Grant’s face he knew he actually had no idea of how she felt. “Of course she does…” He paused debating whether he should say anything. “You really have no idea?”
Grant shook his head. “Of what?”
“Of how she feels about you? Why she wanted you to come here?” He smiled as Grant shook his head again. “Dude, she is into you… Big time actually.”
Grant’s face went blank. “No?”
“Yes.” Mike began to shake his head. “That’s why she kept asking you to come here, and that’s why she called you twice in the last ten minutes.”
Grant pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Never rang.” He held it out in front of him.
“That’s beside the point.” Mike shook his head. “You really didn’t know she liked you?”
“No, I just thought we were good friends.”
“Well you like her don’t you?”
“For a whi
le now…” Grant paused. “I’ve done everything I can think of to get that across.”
“Did you tell her?” Mike asked already knowing the answer.
Grant shook his head. “I was worried she wouldn’t like me and it would ruin our relationship. I’d rather have what we have than nothing at all, ya know?”
“I get that but you should tell her because she likes you too.”
Grant smiled. “You think?”
“Yes I do but how about you call her and tell her we are on our way back.” Mike pointed at the phone in his hand.
“Yeah good idea.” He dialed his phone and it began to ring. “Hey sorry we will be over in a minute.” He paused. “It never rang I swear.” There was another pause and the smile on his face disappeared. “You’re right I should have called I found something and I just lost track of time.” Another pause. “Yeah see you soon I promise.” He hung up the phone and slid it back into his pocket.
“See she’s worried.” Mike said. “Let’s go before we make them both mad.”
“Yeah.” Grant turned and walked into the room with the wardrobe.
“What are you doing?” Mike walked after him. “Exit is this way.” He pointed down the stairs.
“I know but I found some stuff in the desk.” Grant made his way and rolled the desk top up revealing papers and notebook after notebook. “See.”
“Yeah I do.” Mike walked over to the desk and began to thumb through the papers. “What is it all?”
“Different papers and a couple of these are journals.” He picked up two of the notebooks. “These two were banded together so I’m guessing they are important.” He handed them to Mike.
“Yeah one would think.” He stared at the top book and opened it up. “Wes mentioned something about private journals.” He began to flip the pages taking in a few words here and there. “We should take these with us.” He closed the top notebook. “Anything else?”
“No that was about it really. I skimmed through the other books they seemed more business orientated, bank statements, papers from his lawyer, that kind of stuff.”
“Ok, we better get going then.” Mike turned and began to walk out of the room.
“So what should I do?” Grant asked as he followed Mike. “About Tracy.”
“Well tell her how you feel, ask her out on a date… Hell, kiss her.” Mike was walking out of the front door now. “Any of those will work.” He stopped to shut and lock the door as they both stepped out onto the porch.
“I’ll just drive with you that ok?”
“Yeah that’s fine.” Mike was now climbing into his car. “Just do whatever you think you can handle.” He began to back out of the drive. “Pick something and do it. It really doesn’t matter what. Just need to make it absolutely clear you are into her.”
“Ok…” Grant sat himself up straight. “I can do this.”
“Yes you can. She likes you man, trust me.” Mike noticed the nervous look on his face. “You run around a house that has an evil spirit like it’s nothing but you can’t handle telling Tracy you like her.” He let out a laugh. “You two are made for each other.”
Grant smiled as they pulled into Mike’s parents’ drive. “When should I say something?”
“Now as soon as we get in the house.” Mike shut the car off. “Well I’ll take Jen up to our room or you two can go up to her room.” He opened his door and put one leg out of the car. “Better do it now before you lose your nerve.”
“Yeah.” He climbed out of the car. “Lose my nerve.” He whispered to himself.
They made their way into the house and Mike saw that Jen and Tracy were in the same spot as they were in when he left. “I told you I’d be right back babe.” He smiled at Jen and she forced a smile back. He walked over and sat beside her and leaned over to whisper in her ear but was taken back at Tracy’s loud outburst.
“You are an ass Grant.” She yelled out. She was now on her feet. “I sat here worrying about you.” She reached down, picked up her phone and held it out in front of her. “I called you over and over not to mention I texted over and over.”
Mike and Jen sat there stunned. He leaned close to Jen again to whisper something in her ear but was stopped again, this time by Grant’s outburst.
“I love you.” Grant blurted out.
Tracy’s mouth dropped open. “What?” She asked finally pulling herself back together.
He stood there stunned as if he couldn’t believe he had just said what he said. “I love you?” He said as if asking a question. “Ummmm… I mean.” He stopped knowing he couldn’t change what he had just said so took a deep breath. “I said that I love you.”
“Why?” Tracy asked still in a state of shock. “I mean when?”
“Years.”
“Oh.” Tracy sat down and looked as shocked as everyone else in the room.
Jen looked at Grant and saw a look of desperation on his face. She knew he was expecting her to say something besides, “Oh”. She looked at Mike who she could tell was enjoying the show by the smile on his face. She looked back over to Tracy and nudged her with her elbow.
Tracy sprung back to life leaving her shocked state. “I love you too.” She said with a smile. “You’re still an ass and I am still furious with you.” She continued to glare at him, then finally a smile began to sneak across her face. “Come sit down.”
Grant smiled as he made his way to sit next to Tracy.
“Congrats you two.” Mike said. “Look what Grant found while he was there though.” He sat the two notebooks down on the coffee table. Noticing Jen and Tracy’s questioning look he decided to spare the theatrics and just tell them. “The journals Wes mentioned in the ones he typed for me.” He paused a second seeing if it would click. “His private ones.”
Tracy reached down and grabbed the top one and began to thumb through it. Jen made no such movement; she had enough of anything remotely connected to the paranormal for one night. She actually scooted back in her seat putting even more space between her and the journals.
“Did you read any?” Tracy asked as she glanced at Mike.
“No not yet.” He reached down and grabbed the second one.
“Are you going to?” Her face became more serious than it had been a minute ago.
“I think so…” Mike looked at her, puzzled to the seriousness in her tone and on her face. “Why what’s up?”
“It’s just that he made it sound like some real personal stuff is in them. I just think you should really think about it before you read them.” She sat the journal back down on the table.
“What do you know?”
“Nothing…” She paused and turned her gaze from Mike. “Just you never know what you will read and once you read it… you can’t unread it is all.”
“I see.” Still looking at Tracy he sat his down and picked up the top journal and opened it up.
“Well it’s been a long day.” Tracy said. “I’m going to go try and sleep.” She stood up and looked over at Grant.
He looked at her, his face still lit up with a smile.
“Are you coming?” She asked.
“Oh.” He shot up “Yeah sleep sounds good. It has been a long day.” Grinning, he followed her up to her room.
Mike let out a laugh. “She has been hanging around you too much babe.” He stood up and took the spot Tracy had been sitting in.
“Funny.” Jen leaned her head on his shoulder. “What was all that talk about the journal?”
“Yeah I don’t know.” He sat the Journal on his lap. “Very odd though.”
“It’s like she is keeping something from us.”
“Yeah I got that too.” He lowered his head and gave her a kiss. “Love you.”
“Love you too.” She said as she leaned back against Mike and shut her eyes. “Bout time they got together.”
Mike smiled. “Yeah I know. I bet they have been like that since their freshmen year.” He picked up the journal and opened it up again. “Get som
e rest babe, you need it.”
“Kay.” She said through a half closed mouth.
Mike kissed the top of her head as she started nodding off to sleep. He settled himself as he began to read Wes’s private journal.