Haunted

Lily was soon awoken by someone knocking on her front door and groaned as she climbed out of bed, padding barefoot across the hardwood floor. Unsure of the time, she opened the door and frowned when she found Zak stood on the other side.

“Why are you up and about so early?” Lily asked, running a hand tiredly over her face and stepping aside to let him in.

“It’s nearly noon, Lil,” Zak replied, setting some bags on the counter and removing the contents.

“It’s...” Lily began to argue, checking her phone and falling silent as she realized he was telling the truth, “I guess I’m just more tired than I thought.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine... let’s eat.”

It was seldom that Lily slept in, unless she was ill and, apart from feeling tired, she felt okay in herself. The last case had been draining, which could easily explain away the bone-deep exhaustion and her need to sleep.

After especially heavy spiritual cases, she often found that her body tended to crash and it took a little longer for her to recuperate. It wasn’t even the fact that she had done a lot, but powerful spirits, such as the ones they encountered the night before, needed more energy and it seemed that she’d been used as their personal battery.

“Father Thomas is going over to the house today, apparently something attacked Dan this morning and he’s refusing to return with Amelia until the exorcism is complete,” Zak said as he moved around the kitchen.

“I’m not sure that an exorcism alone will fix all of their problems, to be honest,” Lily mumbled, staring into space and jumping slightly as Zak dropped a wooden spoon on the floor, “Whatever is at that house, it’s connected to Shelly somehow and I don’t believe that she’s as clueless to its presence as she makes out.”

“You think she conjured it?”

“I think she invited it in, not fully understanding what it was or what she was doing.”

“I’m going to keep in touch with the family anyway, I have a feeling that we’re going to see them again,” Zak added, earning a nod of agreement from Lily and returning his attention to whatever he had been cooking on the oven.

With a plate filled with food, she made her way over to the sofa and turned on the television. It wasn’t unusual for the two of them to hang out after cases, especially if Lily had had a hard time or something had happened.

Zak’s presence brought her comfort, offered a brief respite from the world she often found herself confined to and the break was welcomed. The dead didn’t sleep and occasionally, Lily had a hard time disconnecting. Lily’s thoughts wandered as she ate and she soon found herself back in the basement, unable to move.

‘The basement is nothing more than a dank space, all concrete and no personality. Darkness presses in around her and a slither of moonlight highlights a single space at the center of the room like a spotlight, but the space isn’t empty.

The figure before her was stooped in a half-crouch, his back to where Lily now stood at the bottom of the rickety stairs and yet, she felt its eyes on her. It was hard to make out any distinctive features, but she knew that it wasn’t human and fear gripped her in its iron-clad grip as the creature turned to face her.

Eyes like burning embers stared through her, accompanied by a grin that sent a shiver up her spine and she could sense the evil within it. The figure seemed to flicker as it prowled towards her, reaching out its clawed hands and then...’

Lily was brought back to reality by Zak’s voice calling her name, grabbing at her plate before it could fall onto the ground and swallowing past the lump that had formed in her throat.

“Are you back with me?” Zak asked, earning a slight nod from Lily and placing his hand comfortingly on her leg, “Where’d you go?”

“To hell.”