Haunted

The man in front of Lily was in his late fifties with a mean look on his face and cold, empty eyes. She stood frozen in place, unable to turn away or speak. Mine the man whispered, reaching out his hand and touching Lily’s shoulder.

A chill ran through her body and she fell to the ground; her eyes rolling into the back of her head. Unsure of how long she’d been out, Lily came to with a gasp and scanned the room to find it empty.

“Lily,” she heard Jay call from somewhere close-by.

“I’m in here, Jay,” Lily replied, pushing herself shakily to her feet and glancing over at the door as Jay walked in.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah.”

A little confused, Lily followed Jay down to nerve center and listened as Zak outlined the lockdown. They soon headed out, making their way up to the second floor and into the master bedroom. Stood by the window, she stared out over the grounds and allowed her mind to wander.

‘A car drove up the long, gravel drive and pulled up outside the inn. Fresh snow had fallen the night before, covering everything in a glistening, white blanket and it was beautiful. The car door soon opened and Sarah climbed out, grabbing up a handful of snow with a squeal of happiness.

“Geoffrey, can we play in the snow?” Sarah asked as a man climbed out from the driver's seat, “Pretty please.”

“Your mother is expecting you for dinner, Miss Sarah.”

“Just five minutes,” the little girl begged, causing the man to chuckle and shake his head in amusement.

Geoffrey slowly crept forward, gathering a small ball of snow and throwing it at Sarah. The little girl’s eyes lit up and she dodged out of the way, giggling as she ran around the car.

“Sarah Harriet Brown, you stop that this instant,” another male voice shouted, causing Sarah to freeze and the smile to fall from Geoffrey’s face, “That is not the behavior of a lady.”

“I...” Sarah began.

“Inside.”

Without another word, Sarah headed inside the house and Geoffrey returned to the car; glaring at the house before climbing in.’

“Lily, are you ready to go?” Zak inquired, pulling her from her thoughts and watching her expectantly.

“I always thought that time was a straight line, moments... moments laid out like dominoes and one by one they fell into one another,” Lily stated, “Just one continuous line from beginning to end, but that’s just stupid.”

“Lily?” Jay added confused.

“Time is scattered, moments sporadic and surprising,” Lily continued, “There is no straight line.”

Unaware of her surroundings, Lily made her way upstairs and entered the playroom. Sat on the floor, she hummed a tune and played with her hair.

***

Zak followed Lily with the rest of the crew, both worried and intrigued by the situation. He had never seen her channel a spirit before, at least not to the fullest extent and he wasn’t sure how they should deal with it.

“Jay, what do we do?” Zak asked.

“I’m not a hundred percent sure, but the longer she’s under the harder it’ll be for her to snap out of it,” Jay explained.

“Okay, so we try to pull her forward gently?” Billy stated with a frown.

Not wanting to hurt Lily, Zak handed his camera to Jay and slowly made his way forward to where she sat. He hadn’t noticed before, but Lily had suddenly fallen completely silent and tears streamed down her cheeks.