Page 8 of Ghost Girl

‘I don’t know. That’s the mystery of it. The cause of death for a few of the victims were released, and they all drowned in the river. But get this, there are signs of a struggle, but no signs of anyone holding them under. It’s like they were drowned by-‘

‘A ghost,’ I finished for her, a flicker of excitement alighting within me. We’d never had a case like this. Most of our research and discoveries were from the past. Ghosts were nothing but echoes of the past that manifested in the present. Some could create cold currents in the air. Others were able to whisper their secrets in your ear. Never had any spectral being had access to the physical realm enough to kill, however. It was unprecedented.

Unless…

‘Not just any ghost,’ she continued, her tone dramatic. ‘Apoltergeist.’

‘Fuck,’ I breathed the word, barely above a whisper. The implications of such a discovery were insane. But also dangerous. ‘Whatever this is, it’s not just a ghost. If it turns out this killer is alive, or even if theyarea spectral being, people are dying, Ashe. Are you sure this is a case you want to take?’

‘I’ve already cleared it with Mikey and Gloria. They’re in, Chance. You’re the last piece of the puzzle. Say yes.’

I blew out a long breath through pursed lips. ‘I don’t know, Ashe. This could be more than we can handle.’

‘Don’t you worry about that, my friend. We’ve got it covered.’

‘How?’ I asked, unconvinced.

‘Mikey’s already been in touch with a priest that’s been known to perform successful exorcisms, and Gloria’s agreed to come with us on this one. Apparently, business is low and won’t pick up again until spooky season, so she’s willing to use her psychic powers for us.’

‘Seems like you’ve already got things figured out,’ I snarked, though there was no venom in it.

‘Come on, Chance. You know you want to. Just say yes.’

‘You’re not giving me much of a choice,’ I admitted. ‘I can’t let you lot go off half-cocked, even with a priest and a psychic in your arsenal. Knowing you, you’ll get the killer’s attention, and not in a good way.’

Her chuckle was way too mischievous for the accusation. ‘I know, right? Tact isn’t exactly my forte, which is why we need you.’

‘Yeah. You got me. There are so many ways this can go wrong, but… I’m in.’

‘Yes,’she hissed, and I could practically see her fist-pumping the air. ‘You’re the best, Chance! I love you!’

My lips tilted up in a smile at her genuine enthusiasm, the hole in my heart filling a little even if the one in my soul was too big to ever be sealed. This, right here, was what kept me going every single day. My best friends. The thrill of hunting ghosts. It made it at least a little bit worth it.

Worth it enough to stay.

Chapter 3

Kali

The girl’s throat was raw from screaming, the sound scratching at my own in an echo of my last days alive. Her hair was plastered to her head with sweat, her skin covered in a sheen of perspiration that had her shivering on the lumpy mattress. She’d wriggled so much while trying to free her wrists and ankles that one of the springs had popped through, slicing up her flesh in a macabre foreshadowing of what was to come.

He wasn’t going to like that. He preferred to work with a blank canvas. Those knives hanging from the wall weren’t just for show. They were his creative muse. His paintbrush, if you will. The only genuine smile I had ever seen on his face was when he was pressing the sharp edge of one of those blades into the unmarred flesh of his victims.

When it was me at his mercy, he’d attempted to show remorse. At least up until I’d called him out on his bullshit and spat in his face. When I’d told him to just get it over with, he’d smiled cruelly, evil glinting in the black depths of his eyes. He’d taken his time, just to spite me.

I could still feel the cool bite of the blade as he made his first cut. The slow drag as it split open my skin. The stingingsensation. The blood that flowed over with every throb of my pulse. Thedrip, drip, dripof that very same blood as it puddled on the concrete floor beneath me whenever he would leave me alone. He spent so much time upstairs, the sounds of the TV, the radio, and the clanging of pots and pans as he cooked drifted down to me, muffled by the heavy-duty door.

Just as they would have done now, if only he didn’t have a wife to go home to again. I’d been that wife once, the one who had dragged him away from his ‘fishing’trips because I wanted to spend time with the man I’d loved.

I was such a fucking fool.

‘No one is going to hear you,’ I told the girl despite knowing she couldn’t hear me. ‘There’s no one around for miles. There are about twenty acres of land between us and the closest neighbour. Screaming is just going to make you more uncomfortable, and pulling on the chains will just waste energy and make you more dehydrated.’

I’d watched countless girls come to die here, all of whom went through the same process. First, there was the begging. The pleading was painful to witness because I knew just how useless it was. That hope of rescue or escape was still present, hence the screaming, but it would soon be extinguished.

Next came the anger. They would lash out, try to fight back, and only succeed in hurting themselves and turning him on. It was his favourite part, because that was where he got to break them. He got off on watching the fight leave their bodies, their will to live diminishing into nothing more than the barest whisper of hope. A dream. A nightmare.

Lastly, they would finally give up. Some became catatonic. Others begged for the sweet release of death’s embrace, unaware of the lack of peace coming their way.

---