Chapter 27

By

Brynn Morgan

Copyright © 2023 by – Brynn Morgan – All Rights Reserved.

It is not legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or printed format.

Clarrisa sat with Willow and her sisters at her apartment later that night and played back the recording from Hasting's house. The sisters had shed their long cloaks for jeans and T-shirts. They drank bottled water and sat cross-legged on the carpeted floor. The central air unit made a humming sound.

Willow pressed the play button on the box, and they heard a lot of static. "That is probably when I was turning it on and handing it over to Davis to control it," she explained, sipping water.

The women listened intently, and then they heard Clarrisa's voice come over the speaker. She told the entity who she was and then asked for its name.

Silence followed. These things were only sometimes successful, so they were unsure they would learn anything from this session. Clarrisa asked,"Will you follow me to the light?"

Again, she was met with silence, and then there was a crackling sound, and they heard something that sounded like a voice coming over the recorder.

"Rewind it, Willow," Luna said softly. "I heard something. It was faint, but I definitely heard something." She leaned forward, and her eyes were narrowed.

Willow backtracked the recording to the correct marker.

"Will you follow me to the light?"

All the women honed in and listened intently, straining to hear. Ever so slightly, they heard someone say something in a frightening whisper. It was dark and low. "Go."

"Go?" Jasmin said with a questioning tone. "Did it say go?"

Rian spoke up. "I heard, No."

Willow shook her head. "Let's listen again. I'm not sure. I'll rewind it." She reversed it back to the exact minute marker.

"Will you follow me to the light?" Clarrisa asked.

"No," in an eerie whisper.

Willow's eyes widened."The voice told her no!"

They all agreed that this was what had been said, not go."Keep playing it," Luna said.

The Sisters heard the voices of Lainie and Emily as they heard a sound behind them. They listened to their sharp intake of breath."Can you tell me why you wish to stay here? Did you die in this house?"

Again, they were met with silence, and they heard very audibly, "Die." In the creepiest voice imaginable.

Willow's voice was full of excitement and fear at the same time."The voice said die!" The sisters nodded in unison.

"Did you die in this house? Silence. Nothing. Just dead air. Did someone hurt you? I am sorry that you are trapped here. I want to help you."

They were met with static and the slamming of a door in the distance, Emily screaming, and then they heard again. "Die." The voice was flat and sinister. It lacked all emotion.

Jasmin wrapped her arms around her to ward off the cold chills enveloping her body. "This voice. It is communicating Die," she said in a slightly shaken whisper.

The sisters looked at her. "You are right," Clarrisa said in agreement. The recording continued. "Is this your doll?" she asked. "Can you tell me your doll's name?"

There was a brief silence, and then.

"Doll." The voice whispered spookily.

"Is that you? Are you saying hello? My name is Clarrisa. I want to be your friend and end your pain. Will you tell me your name? You don't have to suffer anymore? I want to help you."

"Doll." It said, and then. "Die."

They heard the struggle in the background, with Lainie crying and Emily trying to help her. It was hard to hear her screaming for the unseen to stop torturing and release her.

"Did you do that to my friend?" Did you hurt her on purpose just now? That wasn't very nice of you!" Clarrisa yelled out.

"Die!" The voice repeated repeatedly in a harsh whisper, sending chills down the spine of everyone in the room. What was even more chilling were Mozart and Beethoven. They sat up on the couch with their ears back, their pupils highly dilated, and their tails up in the air, swishing back and forth violently.

"Look at the cats! Rian whispered with a look of alarm on her face.

Willow turned off the recorder and shook her head.

"I can feel the evil from that voice here in this room. That is why they are reacting this way. Because that is nothing but evil."

***

"I need to call Lainie and see how she is doing," Clarrisa commented as she filled a grocery bag with empty water bottles. The other sisters had left.

Willow was there with her, and she was folding her cloak over her arms, preparing to leave.

"She appeared to be quite upset and has every right to be. That would shake anyone up." Willow said softly.

Clarrisa looked over at the cats; they had calmed down and were stretched out languidly on the sofa. "At least they have calmed down," Clarrisa commented. "That was so weird. I have never seen them act like that before. Why would they act like that, with it just being a voice-over recorder?" she asked curiously.

Willow lifted her quilted purse, tucked it under her arm, and glanced at her daughter. "I have been practicing magic for years now, and I have never heard anything like what I heard tonight, Risa. It truly gave me the Hibbie – jibbies." She said and shivered, rubbing her arms for emphasis," she continued.

"We are up against something compelling and vengeful, honey. It wants to hurt as it has been hurt. We cannot speak to something that does not give us a name. It never mentioned its name. Therefore, we can't address it."

"The scratchy voice repeating the word die, repeatedly. That was spine-chilling." Clarrisa shuddered remembering the menacing and disturbing sound as it said die."That is twice now that Lainie has been attacked, as well as Emily," Clarrisa commented in a soft whisper.

Willow sighed. "Those two have been singled out for some reason. I wonder if they disturbed this spirit somehow. In some way? They need to be on guard, and I would highly suggest that they leave their home for right now until we figure out who is haunting Hastings house." she said with a grave expression.

"I will call them and let them know as soon as you are gone," Clarrisa said.

Willow nodded. "Good. They will be safer," she said and left.

***

Lainie lay stretched out on the couch. Her head pounded miserably; it felt like it was being hit with a hammer. Davis had brought her an icepack, and she had it lying across her forehead to alleviate the discomfort. Emily walked over to her. "Hey, you," she said in a caring voice. She looked down at Lainie with great concern.

Lainie shifted her weight slightly and looked up at Emily."Hey," she said softly.

Emily knelt down on the floor beside the couch.

Lainie sighed deeply. "How are you feeling?" Emily asked with worry.

Lainie shook her head and smiled ruefully. "I guess how you feel when a ghost pulls your hair as hard as possible." She said humorlessly. The way that she said it made Emily chuckle.

Emily said, "I hear you on that!"

Lainie's face turned even more somber."I'm not lying, Emily. It really did happen."

Emily looked astonished. "I know it did!" she said assuredly. "I saw the hair moving around on your head!"

Lainie sat up slightly on the pillow that she had been leaning against. "I used to think, years ago, that all of this stuff, the paranormal and ghost hunting, was fake, Emily. With all that has happened? It's hard not to believe it now." she said.

Emily nodded. "I may be drifting over to the side of belief too, Lainie. I have seen and felt things that simply cannot be explained as anything other than the paranormal or supernatural these past few days," Emily said convincingly.

Lainie's phone rang, interrupting the conversation.Her cell phone lay on the coffee table. "Who is it?" she asked Emily.

Emily looked over and saw Clarrisa's name flashing on the screen. "It's Clarrisa," she said.

"Can you answer it?" Lainie asked.

Emily answered. "Hello?"

Clarrisa answered. "Hi."

"Hey, Clarrisa. I answered Lainie's phone."

Clarrisa halted. "How is she doing, Emily?" she asked with concern.

"I will put her on speakerphone for you," Emily said and pressed the button. "Go ahead, Clarrisa."

"Hey, Lainie. How are you doing?"

Lainie said the same thing to Clarrisa that she had spoken to Emily earlier, and Clarrisa did not chuckle as Emily had. She seemed very concerned. Something was weighing heavily on her mind, and Emily could sense it strongly. "So, the call is because we listened to the recording," Clarissa said in a tone neither Emily nor Lainie liked.

"Ok," Lainie said gravelly.

"We played back the recording, and what we heard was bone-chilling, to say the least," she said.

Davis walked into the living room and heard Clarrisa speaking."Hey, Clarrisa. I am listening to you," he told her.

"Good, Davis. You will want to hear this as well." She spoke in a distressed tone. All three of them were very troubled to hear the recording.

Clarrisa pressed play, and Davis, Emily, and Lainie listened anxiously to the ghostly whisper they heard over the recording.

"Oh, my God!" Lainie said when she heard herself being attacked by the spirit and then heard it say die.

"That is the most terrifying thing I have ever heard!" Emily cried out.

Clarrisa sighed. "It is the general consensus that y'all leave for a little while and distance yourself from this situation. We feel that you are in grave danger."

Lainie cried out and hit the cushion in frustration "Why? She questioned. Why are we going through this, Clarrisa?"

Clarrisa spoke very softly and with tenderness to the them. "I don't know. Maybe something that had been dormant for a while was unleashed when you moved in, Emily. I'm not sure, but you have both suffered attacks at the hands of this thing, whatever it is. It said die! It's not playing. It has killed before, so it will kill you too!" She said with dread.

Davis interrupted. "So, hold on a minute. You are asking us to pack up and leave our home? Just to uproot everything? This thing has attacked here, at this house! Can you assure us it won't follow us again?" he asked incredulously.

Clarrisa was quiet and responded with, "No. I can't." in a powerless tone.

Davis swore, and Emily touched his shoulder. "I hope I am not the one that has brought this upon your family. I would not be able to bear it if that was the case," she said sadly.

Davis and Lainie both shook their heads. "We don't know what has caused this Em. We do not know if you stirred something up in that house. It has probably always been there, just waiting and biding its time." Davis said dismally.

Lainie spoke strongly. "We are not leaving Clarrisa. This is Bella's home. This is our home, and we are not leaving." she said with finality.

Clarrisa sighed. "Alrighty then. I will talk to the sisters and see what we do from here." Lainie, Emily, and Davis had very stubborn looks on their faces. They were not budging.

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