83. A Visit To Golden Gate

"Stop, Emily!" Echoed an alarming voice from behind the two. "Stay away from him!"

"Clyde?" Emily turned around and so did John. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing's wrong with me, Emily," Clyde began as he stood in between Emily and John forming some sort of a shield. "But you need to stay away from him!"

"From who? From him? From John?" Emily asked pointing at him. "Why?"

Before Clyde could say anything, John interrupted him and said, "See! This is what I was trying to tell you! First, he disappeared to go... I don't know where... And now his sudden appearance with 'you need to stay away from John?' like what in the world?!"

"Please, Emily, trust me. We need to go. Now!" Clyde said, still standing in between Emily and John.

Emily first looked at John - a bit unsure, a bit of hatred, a bit cold-hearted - and then looked at Clyde - a bit concerned, a bit cautious, a bit scared - and said, "Ok, first of all, Clyde, John is right. Your mysterious whereabouts and disappearances are a bit off. Where were you?"

"I'll tell you everything, but first please go away from John and -"

"Wait," Emily cut Clyde. "What did you say? Go away from John?" Emily arched her eyebrows. "You are sounding as though John is dangerous and -"

"Because that's what he is!" Clyde interrupted Emily. Seeing Emily's face full of doubts, Clyde continued in a desperate yet concerned voice, "Please Emily, I'll give you all the answers later, but please let's go to the Golden Gate Town! Hurry! I'm waiting for you in the car."

Saying this, Clyde swiftly dashed near the reception and then out of the hospital building.

Emily just kept watching Clyde go. "What just happened?"

John shrugged his shoulders. "Told you so."

Emily took a deep breath and after a brief pause, she said, "But we don't have any other option, John. I have to meet Scarlett and see where it leads us to."

"Oh, and I'll make sure, it leads you to nowhere...or to your doom. That'll be a lot more fun! " John murmured under his breath.

"Did you say something?"

"Oh, nothing" John tried to cover up." Just that be careful."

"That I'll be."

- - - - - - - - - - -

"You still haven't told me about your weird actions or whatever that were back there. We are only a few minutes away and I'm still clueless." Emily asked Clyde as she drove through the Golden Gate town and the early dawn breeze.

"I think it's better if you hear it from Scarlett." He paused for a while and said, "Hold on! I think I see her."

Scarlett and her family seemed to be packing something and keeping labeled boxes in the trunk of their car which was parked in front on the sidewalk.

The sidewalk was covered with colorful chalks like it was the canvas of the kids and their imaginations. There were lots of kids' drawing - shaky and innocent - trees, balloons, stars, flowers, and more - which felt more like kids' doodles.

The house which seemed like it belonged to the Swift family, was a medium-sized house. It was hard to make out the details in the little light of the dawn but there were hanging plants on the porch and a tiny pond and a garden in front.

"Seems to me like they are about to move again!" Emily said to Clyde slowing down the car near Swift's parked car and slowly waving at Scarlett. "Good thing we came early."

"Hey, Emily!" Scarlett tried to be cheerful midst of her groggy morning voice. "So nice to see you again." She placed the box which she was carrying in the trunk as Emily turned the key to stop the engine.

"Why aren't you surprised seeing us?" Emily asked getting down. "Like don't you wanna know how do we know about your location when you told none of us?"

Scarlett giggled a bit and said, "Clyde came to meet me and told me that Father Murphy gave you my address."

"Oh, so this is where you went!" Emily said in surprise turning towards Clyde.

"Yup, and if you excuse me, I'll go and say hello to Skylar. I think I like seeing her scared face!" Clyde giggled as he began walking towards the house to help the Swift family.

"You guys came at the right time though. Skylar's inside with mom and dad helping with the packing." Scarlett began. "As you can see, I don't have that much of a time. We thought that this could be a safe place but the curse is so strong. Nearly half of the people have been reported dead. Clyde told me everything Father told you guys."

"I don't know how or why," Emily said, "but Father told us that as we don't have any clue or any lead as to where to began from to meet you. You'll have the answer. We have pretty much hit the dead-end this time. "

"Ok, what you want to know about?" Scarlett said in a calm voice.

The calmness in her voice alarmed Emily.

What do I wanna know? She is saying as if she has the knowledge of everything. She is looking so suspicious right now like how can a person say something like this? She's not an encyclopedia. And besides, she's just a kid!

Suddenly her mind went back to her and John's conversation from earlier.

Maybe John was right. We don't even know the background of Scarlett and we are following her like she is some kind of a know-it-all. But then again, if Father suggested her name, then there must be something to it. Arg! I think right now, even though, the history's blur - what blur? It's full opaque! - I should just have blind faith in Father Murphy and trust Scarlett too. I'll have plenty of time to know more about her but right now if Father Murphy thinks that she could help us, why not? And besides our time is running out.

"Emily?" Scarlett snapped her fingers in front of her. "Lost somewhere?"

"Um- Nothing," Emily shook her head. "Ok, I know that you'll be leaving soon, so I'll be quick but I don't even know where to begin from! I don't even know what to ask you! There are so many questionable and unanswerable things going on." Emily took a deep breath to calm her nerves down.

"It's alright, Emily," Scarlett said in a still voice. "Why don't you tell me in short, what happened, I mean the incidents that happened since John brought the stone. It could definitely help us see through any loopholes or clues or ties."

Nodding her head, Emily told Scarlett about all the deaths and the paranormal incidents that kept happening since John brought the cursed stone in the house that led up to Hannah being possessed by Diana, how John nearly got eaten by Father Williams, how he magically got teleported back to the Church after 'bat lady' came to hunt him down.

"Hold on," Scarlett caused Emily to pause and look blankly at her. "Bat lady?" Scarlett giggled.

The sky which was getting ready for the sun rays to paint it with the shades of orange and red now turned all black and cloudy.

"What? Don't laugh." Emily replied innocently. "You should've seen her. Bat earrings, tilted and half sliced neck, conjuring herself from a circle of bats and -"

"What?"

"I know right! She even threatened to kill us too!"

"That can't be possible -"

The shrieks of what sounded like bats grew louder as more than a few bats have gathered in the sky above them.

"Scar - Scarlett!!" Emily's face dropped as she pointed behind Scarlett.

The number of bats grew more and more as they began forming a circle in the dark sky.

"She's here again! Quick we have to run!" Emily said gripping Scarlett's hand tightly and forcing her to come along with her, inside the house.

"Emily,"

The calmness in Scarlett's voice again switched on Emily's panicking state of mind as a figure slowly started to appear from the circle of bats.

How can anyone be this calm in a situation like this? Maybe she doesn't know that she's inviting her own death by staying here any longer than a second.

In no time, the tornado of bats disappeared and the 'bat lady' appeared in front of them, just like how John told her - bat earring, sliced-cut-open-tilted neck, yellow teeth, eerie tattoos, and terrifying vibes.

But what terrifying to her than seeing the eerie woman again in front of her was what Scarlett said the next second.

"Hi, Helena."