Haunt you later, part 1

It was an odd feeling, to be driving to an investigation without Phil but it had been a few months since the accident, and I knew I needed to try to find out if normal was still possible.

Teddy and Derrick were horsing around in the back of the van , after everything that happened Derrick tried to give me space. Teddy has been my biggest comfort, it’s almost like when he got turned into a dog, he was gifted with all the empathy that he lacked as a human. Maybe sensitivity was a better word choice.

Phil always said that Teddy was one lab accident away from becoming a mad scientist, well I guess mad scientist doggo would have to do. My thoughts kept circling back to Phil and how much I missed him, it started to rain which meant I would need to slow waaaaay down. I sighed we had already gotten a late start, and now it was almost 10 and raining.

"Derrick, call Matt. Let him know to just start the investigation without us and we will catch up when we get there. No sense in them waiting for us"

"Rodger! But...we have all of the gear." Derrick always sounded perpetually confused.

"They'll be fine. A little tin foil, a little salt...maybe a couple of black candles. Should be good" Teddy was going for reassuring but just didn’t make it. He always took it for granted that anybody could improvise. It didn’t help that he could probably make an entire intercom system out of a pack of aluminum foil and some copper wire. Teddy was a little smart for his own good.

"Well Teddy for the rest of us who can’t make a tv out of an old windowpane and some wire, we should probably just let them know." I laughed.

"Hey, nobody was using the window anyway!" Teddy had gotten in some trouble for that stunt.

Derrick was busy talking into our team cellphone, we had gotten one after the libel case. The lady who had asked for our help had harassed all of us round the clock throughout the case and even afterwards. That was when Phil had decided to spring for an official team phone line. We had all blocked her but still got the occasional call.

"Matt is ok with that, he said to be safe and get there when we can. And Rodney called us butt munches"

I smirked “Sounds like Rodney. Great, well you guys should probably buckle in. The rain is getting worse"

Lightning flashed across the sky, lighting up the road ahead and the huge house to my left. It looked gorgeous in that brief flash, I wondered who would live this far out of town. Thunder boomed as we got closer to the house...mansion? Then, suddenly all the instruments in the van went CRAZY. Suddenly the van came to a screeching halt and put it in park.

We all looked at each other in unison, then looked out the van window and found ourselves parked at the end of the old mansion’s long driveway. Derrick gulped and I shut off the van. The instruments were lighting up light Christmas and beeping away. I opened the door and stepped out.

As I looked at the gorgeous house, it was weathered and patched to be sure but still charming, a strange mist crept across the ground. It was thick and warm and soon came up to the middle of my shin. The large and overly ornate fountain started pouring forth water out of nowhere, and there was an odd air about this place.

Derrick and Teddy climbed out of the van behind me, and the fountain began to run red and thick as though with blood while screams could be heard echoing from somewhere nearby.

"Whelp, this place is DEFINITELY HAUNTED!" Derrick was perky but I could tell it covered nervousness.

"Call Matt, let him know we have run into a haunting of our own and give him the address. Let him know what we just saw. " I felt a familiar energy to this place, but I knew that I had never been here.

"I’m guessing you want to investigate this?" Teddy had his your joking look on his face.

I climbed back into the van "Come on, the ghosts might have all night but we don’t." I put it in drive and they both scrambled in. Pulling up the long drive, I felt the sense of familiarity increase.

"Are you sure about this? We already have a haunting tonight; do we really want to do double time?" Derrick pulled out a pb & j and munched while Teddy nodded and eyed the sandwich. I had already parked and pulled some gear from the back "With luck this will be fast." I headed to the door which opened with a loud groan before I laid a hand on it. I heard them both sigh.

Teddy was at my side quickly and Derrick brought up the rear as we traipsed past the open doors.

The foyer had an odd purplish hue to it but was slightly too dark to make out any details of it. I pulled my large frame glasses off and wiped them on my skirt a bit, it didn't help I decided as a slid them up my nose "Wonder if there's a breaker box somewhere?"

No sooner had I said that than ghostly blue flames lit the candles in the wall sconces and the overly large gothic looking candle chandelier that hung from the ceiling. Teddy, Derrick and I all involuntarily clambered together as the long red carpet under our feet rolled out from under us to reveal a huge hole that gapped up at us. It looked like the boards had been broken, it was insanely dark down there.

We leaned in to peer over the opening in unison and something shoved us from behind....HARD.

We fell for what seemed like an abnormally long distance. I heard Teddy howl in panic and Derrick scream and crash from where he was at, then I felt like I hit a huge pillow and bounced onto my rear...which hit a very plush carpet.

What on earth was that?

This was unlike any haunting that I had ever been involved in investigating. Clicking on my flashlight, thankfully my glasses were still intact, and, on my face, I scanned the room I landed in, It was a huge library. I began to explore a bit.

After I perused the titles on the shelves, I realized that this house's library had both modern volumes and tomes spanning back over two centuries, I tore myself from the shelves with effort and went to find my companions. I stumbled into a kitchen first and found Teddy with a heap of sausages and pizza piled on the table in front of him, he was looking a little green but still plowing through the food.

"Teddy , you don’t know how long that’s been in the fridge?" I gaped at him.

He picked up the pizza box "Since four days ago, I should be good."

Now things were getting strange. A haunting of this scale and magnitude would have taken longer than four days to manifest. I sat down dazedly at the table to join Teddy as I had forgotten to eat all night and had just now realized how hungry I was.

First slice down the hatch, I was chomping through slice number two when Derrick came crashing through the kitchen door screaming at the top of his lungs. He saw us and latched onto us while dragging us toward the kitchen door opposite the one he had just come through, we heard what was chasing him before we saw it and it was frightful!

Then Teddy & I turned as one to look upon our pursuer. There framed in the kitchen doorway was a gargantuan skeleton with blue flames wreathing his head...skull. He was dressed in a black funerary suit. I watched in silent terror as the skeleton lifted his right arm and pointed at derrick "You!" We all huddled together as Derrick tried to unlock the door.

The black suited skeleton screamed "You took EVERYTHING from me!!!!!" Just then the door gave way and we all scrambled through it. It was odd, but through the terror....the skeleton almost seemed familiar. We kept running deeper into the blackness that shrouded the inside of this house, no thought other than to escape our pursuer. .............

Tune in next week to find out the rest!