Page 46 of Ghosted

We’re on the hunt to find where Stella moved her body to and I wish there was a way I could help more. The dust we’re kicking up keeps tickling my nose and I have to hold the bridge of my nose to keep in the sneeze that’s threatening to escape. Adjusting to living again is not an easy task.

“You okay, Lucien?” Raven asks as we stop to find the tracks again.

“Yes, just the dust. I’ve been around it for years, but having a real nose again, it’s a little bit of a struggle.”

Eli and Jayce laugh and Raven pulls a tissue from her bag and hands it to me.

“Thank you,” I say as I pocket it.

“I think we need to go this way,” Eli comments as he takes a right down another corridor.

“Why are there so many hallways in this place? That’s enough to drive someone mad, alone,” Raven complains.

“You’re not wrong, but let’s keep the talking to the minimum. We don’t need crazy sneaking up on us,” Jayce says and he takes her hand as he leads us as if he knows his way around this place. Then again the amount of research he puts into everything we do explains that.

After what seems like an eternity, Jayce stops at a closed door. Room 666, this can’t be a coincidence.

“Room 666, seriously? Maybe this bitch really is the devil,” Eli states.

“Or the daughter of the devil,” I comment as I step up to the door. There is a small gasp behind me as my hand touches the knob. I know it’s from Raven but I turn to face her. “What? Don’t we need to enter this room?”

“We do, I just don’t know if I’m ready to see her all decomposed and all.”

“Well, Lucien and I can go in, salt and burn the bones. You and Jayce can stay out here and keep watch,” Eli offers.

“No, I want to see this finished. I have to see that bitch burn like she will in Hell.”

“That’s my girl,” Eli smiles into his flashlight. “I just hope she’s in here.”

I spin back to the door and take a deep breath before I turn it, but it doesn’t budge. Letting out a sigh I turn back to the group. “I can't open it. Because that would be too easy. How are we going to get in?”

“If you move over, I’ve got this. Hold this flashlight for me,” Eli says as he hands over the little torch.

I watch as he takes a card from his wallet and wedges it between the strike plate and door. Eli wiggles it back towards the doorknob until there’s a click and the door springs open.

“You made that look too easy,” Raven comments from behind us.

“We all have special skills,” he says as he straightens up and takes back the flashlight.

“Let’s incinerate this bitch and get home. I’m ready to get out of this musty hellhole and shower,” Jayce says.

Eli and I enter the room and he illuminates every inch as we search for where she stashed her bones.

“Jayce, you look in that closet,” Eli orders.

“I swear if her skeleton jumps out at me, I’m gonna kick your ass,” he replies as he kicks some debris out from in front of the door.

I make my way over to where he is. I need to see if it’s really Stella. She has plagued me for almost ninety years, I can’t wait to truly be free of her.

Jayce throws open the door and lying on the floor…there she is. There isn’t much left but a little bit of her long, burnt hair.

“Eli, bring the salt and gasoline. The bitch is here.”

“Should we take her outside? Or just let her burn this place down one last time?” I ask as Eli and Raven come to stand near us.

“Let’s just burn this motherfucker down. I, for one, don’t want to touch her,” Raven says with a touch of disgust in her words.

“Same here, let’s get this show on the road,” Eli says as he showers Stella’s body with salt as Jayce douses her in gasoline.

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