Worthington Manor - 23. Chapter 23

Luke and Trey went into the hospital with Kevin and Justin. They could only go in two at a time, so Luke and Justin went in first.
Justin walked into the hospital room and saw his mother there. She looked like she was sleeping. Justin wondered if it was like sleep or was she just trapped in her mind, like a dream.
Justin couldn’t take seeing his mother like that. He grabbed Luke’s hand and squeezed it. He sat beside her and Luke stood above him with his hands on Justin’s shoulders. The beep of the machines and the sound of the oxygen were all very ominous sounds that sent tingles down Justin’s spine. The chill of the room didn’t help them any.

“Why her?” asked Justin. “Why is she like this?”
“I don’t know.” responded Luke.

Tears trickled down Justin’s eyes and he wiped them away.

“We have to find out what she saw.” said Justin
“I think I know” said Luke
“What?” Justin looked up to Luke
“Maybe it was the same thing that we saw.”
“No, what we saw couldn’t hurt anybody like this. For God’s sake she still has bruises.”
“Then maybe something else is in your house.”

Justin thought of what happened to Kevin. He did swear that he would never tell anyone, but he could trust Luke. Couldn’t he?

“Well, I promised Kev that I wouldn’t tell anyone about this, but he was attacked by something right before we went to the cabin. He didn’t want anyone to know. That’s what all of his bruises were about.”
“Well, maybe the same thing that attacked Kevin attacked your mom?”
“I think that that might be possible.” said Justin.
“We should look into it.”
“How,” asked Justin
“We need to stay in your mother’s room over night.” said Luke

Justin looked at Luke as if he was insane.

“Let’s talk about this outside.” said Justin

Justin and Luke left the room. Trey and Kevin went into the room after they left.
As soon as Kevin walked in, tears fell from his eyes. Trey didn’t like this. He stood in front of Kevin and put his hands on his cheeks.

“Listen to me Kev. She’s going to be okay. Look into my eyes. She’s going to be okay.”

Kevin put his hands on Trey’s and took them, softly from his face. He held Trey’s hand in his. He looked up into Trey’s worried face and smiled, with his face still wet from his previous tears.

“How do you do that?” asked Kevin softly.
“What” asked Trey
“You have this way of calming me down. No one else has ever been able to do that.”
“Well, maybe it’s because I care about you so much.” responded Trey.
“Can we not do this here?” asked Kevin.

Trey looked at him, confused.

“I want to do this, I really do. It’s just that I came here to see my mother and that’s what I’m going to do.”
“Okay” Trey smirked.

* * *

“Are you crazy?” asked Justin. “We cannot stay in my mother’s room.”
“Why not?”
“Because, one of the last two people to stay in that area of the house ended up in a coma and the other got the shit beat out of him.” said Justin
“So, we need to find a way to get these spirits out of your house. We need to do that before something even more serious than what happened to your mother happens.” said Luke. “What if someone dies?”
“What if we die? No, I won’t do it.”
“But both of us will be there. It’ll totally be safe.”

* * *

“I can’t believe she’s like this.” said Kevin. “I could barely handle it when my dad passed away. I don’t know what I’ll do if anything happens to her.”
“Hey, don’t talk like that. Your mother’s going to be just fine.” said Trey
“We should go. I don’t want to see her like this anymore.”
“Okay”
“Can we, ah, continue the conversation we started earlier at my house?”
“Sure” said Trey

Kevin and Trey left the hospital room.

“Are you ready to go?” asked Kevin
“Sure, let’s go.” said Justin.

At home, Luke was still trying to convince Justin to spend time in his mother’s room while Kevin and Trey were in the back yard, on the porch, continuing their talk.

“So, what where you saying in the hospital?” asked Kevin as they sat on the porch bench.
“I was saying that I care about you a lot, Kev. And I was hoping that you felt the same way.”

Kevin’s face got really worried, as if he was thinking really hard. Trey put his hand on Kevin’s

“I’m just saying that I feel that there’s something going on between us. I just want to know if you feel it to, but if you don’t then I will totally back off.” said Trey
“I, ah, it’s just that this is a very confusing time for me.” replied Kevin
“I know there’s a lot going on with you.”
“I need you to know that the reason that this is so confusing for me. I need you to know that I’ve never, ever, felt what I feel for you for a guy. I don’t even think I’ve felt what I feel for you for a girl.”
“What do you mean?” asked Trey
“Well, I’ve only ever had feelings for girls, but those feelings have never been as strong as my feelings for you.”
“So, you’re saying that I’m the only guy that you’ve ever had feelings for.”
“I know that it doesn’t make any sense.”
“You’re right; that doesn’t make any sense.” said Trey
“I just, I feel so strongly for you and all of this is so new to me.”
“So, does that mean that you’re not ready to be with me yet?”
“No, that’s exactly the opposite of what I want.” said Kevin.

Kevin leaned in and gave Trey a soft, short kiss. Trey gave him a smirk.

“I like your smile.” said Kevin. “It’s very comforting.”

Kevin took Trey’s hand and kissed it.

“I want to be with you, Trey. But, I don’t want to hurt you.”
“How would you hurt me?”
“What if I want to go back to women? I wouldn’t be able to take hurting you.”
“So don’t”
“It’s not that simple.” said Kevin
“Of course it is. If you want to be with me, then be with me. If you’re not sure if this is serious, then don’t even bother. Now, it’s time for you to make a decision.” said Trey
“I really badly want to be with you. You make feel like no one has ever made me feel and that’s in a good way, a very good way.”
“It’s on then?” asked Trey
“Oh yeah, it’s on between us.” said Kevin

Trey screamed out laughing as a sort of victory celebration. He grabbed Kevin by the cheeks and passionately kissed him. He kissed him four times. The first kiss was long and soft and every kiss after was a little shorter but just as soft.

* * *

Luke came running out of the computer room and into the kitchen to show Justin his research. He had researched how to get negative spirits out of your home.

“To tell the spirits these things would mean we would have to wait up and confront them and I already told you that we’re not going to do that.” Justin looks down the page that Luke printed. “Look it says to burn sage throughout the house. Now it might take a few bundles, but maybe we should look into that instead.”
“Oh, but that’s not as fun.” said Luke
“You won’t think it’s fun if you or someone else gets seriously hurt.”
“Come on, no one’s getting hurt.”
“How do you know that?” asked Justin
“Come on, I’ll protect you.” Luke gave him a peck on the cheek
“Well how can I say no to that?”

After his conversation with Justin, Luke went to go try and get more people to stay the night with them in Julie’s bedroom.

“Crai-aig!” Luke called as he walked into Craig’s room.
“What do you want?” asked Craig
“I’m here to ask you for a favor.”
“What is it?”
“Can you stay over night with Justin and I in Julia’s room to get rid of the ghosts.”
“Are you mental? Why would you want to go an' do somethin’ like that?”
“So we can get rid of them.”
“Ello! They put poor Julia in a coma. What do ya think they’ll do to you?”
“But the difference is that we’ll be prepared.”
“Yeah, prepared to be made a right show of.” said Craig.
“Oh, cut the dramatics and just do it.”
“Alright, Alright, but only to prove ya wrong.”

Getting Craig to stay with them was only the first step. Next he had to convince Kevin and Trey. It took a bit more convincing with them, but they eventually agreed.

* * *

They each prepared for the night in Julia’s room. David and Ashley even wanted to stay in the room. Kevin and Justin fought that idea at first, but then realized that it would be better if they stayed with all of them rather than stay by themselves.
As you can imagine, the master suite of a house as big as Wothington Manor is a pretty enormous room. Justin and Luke slept on the bed and they brought in two king sized mattresses; one for Kevin and Trey and one for David and Ashley. They also brought in a double sized a mattress for Craig.
They packed the room full of snacks and board games, much like a sleep over.

“So, what are we supposed to be waiting for?” asked Trey
“For any sign of a spirit.” said Luke

They turned on the television and started to watch some late night TV. They were in the middle of laughing at a comedian when the tube started to shake. Then, it turned completely off. The group became very, very alert. They all sat up with their eyes wide watching everything in the room.
The lights started to flicker. Ashley started to whine and jumped in bed next to Justin.

“It’s okay Ashley. Everything will be okay.” said Justin.

The bed began to shake violently and Ashley began to scream. After about twenty seconds of shaking, the bed was suddenly still, but the room was pitch black.

“Justin!” Ashley yelled
“Justin!” yelled David.
“Don’t worry guys. I’ll get the lights back on.” said Justin

Justin fumbled around the dark room to find the light switch. He flipped it and to their surprise, the light went on.

“What do we do now Mr. know it all?” asked Justin
“Okay, now we wait for it to show itself.”
“What if we wait and wait and before it shows itself one of us gets hurt?” asked Kevin.
“Wait, Babe, did you remember to burn the sage through the house?” asked Justin

Luke looked to Justin with a guilty look on his face.

“Oh my God Luke! You knew how dangerous this would be without doing that!” yelled

By this time all of them were on their feet. Justin went to the door to open it.

“We’re getting out of here.”

The door was locked. Craig came rushing the door. He kicked it and kicked it.

“Craig, it’s not going to open.” said Justin
“We’ve got to try. I am not gonna stay in this death trap!” complained Craig
“Just calm down, evil spirits feed on fear.” said Luke
“Oh just drop it Luke. Our main priority right now is to get out of here.” said Trey

The lights began to flicker once again. The entire room began to shake as if they were in an earthquake. The children began to cry and the rest of them screamed for them to calm down. The mattresses popped. The legs of the bed all snapped in two, leaving the bed on the floor.

“We’re in big shit now.” said Kevin.

Justin made his way back over to the door. He placed his hand on the doorknob and it was scorching hot. He immediately jerked his hand away.

“Ow! Shit!” he screamed.
“What’s wrong?” asked a concerned Luke
“It’s hot!”
“I don’t smell smoke.” said Trey
“It’s probably the ghost.” said Luke

Luke took Justin’s hand and kissed the top.

“Is that better?” he asked softly.
“Yes, much better.” said Justin, looking into Luke’s eyes.
“Oh, God; this is no time for googly eyes. We’re in deep shit right now.” said Kevin.
“Wait! Shh! Do you guys hear that?” asked Trey.

They all hushed and pricked up their ears. It was sort of a buzzing noise, but as they listen, it got gradually louder. The television began to shake again. Then, it began to float. The kids ran to Justin and wrapped their arms around him. Then, the tube flew across the room, hit the wall shattered to pieces and sparked up a little.

“We need to get the hell out of here. We’ve obviously pissed someone off royally.” said Craig.
“We can’t the door won’t open.” said Justin

* * *

Meanwhile, Mark was on his way home from the airport, back from his business trip. Downstairs, a lot more had been happening than in the bedroom. On of the things that happened was the five gallon drinking water tank exploded and flooded the area of the kitchen and the front room, where Mark had to come in through.
Mark came through the door and slipped on the water and fell onto his back. Before he could even get up, something began to drag him around the first floor. He didn’t know what it was. He felt as if something had tied rope around his legs, but he saw nothing there. He was finally dragged into the kitchen. He tried to get up, but it was as if he was paralyzed.
A kitchen knife floated out of one of the drawers and was thrust straight into Mark’s heart. He let out a scream. The group upstairs heard the scream and decided to break down the door. All five of those boys simultaneously charged the door until it broke open. It was dark outside and dark inside of the house too. None of the lights were on and none of them would go on either.
Justin, Luke, and Trey carefully went through the halls while Kevin and Craig stayed with David and Ashley.
The three boys heard rattling behind them. They turned around to see the door that they knocked down, rattling on the floor. It then, suddenly, picked itself up and slammed back onto the hinges. Justin ran to it and tried to open it.

“David! Ashley!” he yelled
“Justin, help us!” yelled David.
“Kevin, Craig, are you in there?”
“Yeah, we’re here.” said Kevin
“Don’t worry. I’m going to get you out of there.” said Justin.
“Just get these damn ghosts out of this house first!” yelled Kevin.

Justin looked to Trey and Luke.

“One of us should stay here and make sure nothing happens to them.” said Justin.
“I agree.” said Luke
“I’ll stay, you guys go.” said Trey.

Justin and Luke slowly made their way down the hall and to the staircase.

“Stay behind me.” said Justin to Luke.

The house was almost completely dark. They edged slowly down the stairs. They heard drips, like water.

“What’s that?” asked Luke
“I don’t know, but we should be careful where we step.” said Justin.

They were careful and as they reached floor. It was slightly wet so they were very cautious.

“There should be a flashlight somewhere in that closet over there.” said Justin. “Wait here while I get it.”

Luke was shaking in fear. He didn’t have one clue as to what was really going on. Was it really ghosts? Or was it just a freak coincidence?
Justin came back with two flashlights in his hand. They turned them on. The water they were walking in was a light red, almost pink.

“What is that?” asked Luke
“I don’t know.”

They cautiously walked into the kitchen. There, they found Mark. Justin was so horrified that he slipped on the water and fell to the ground. Luke went down to comfort him. Justin buried his head into Luke’s shoulder. He didn’t want to look anymore.
Luke could feel Justin’s tears on his t-shirt.

“What in the hell happened?” asked Justin in his tears.
“I’m so sorry, Justin.”
“We need to get out of here.” said Justin. “I can’t risk the kids’ lives.”

The cupboards and drawers started to rapidly open and close. The noise got so loud that Justin and Luke had to cover their ears.

They got up, their clothes slightly wet. They went back up the stairs. Towards the middle of the stairs, they saw an apparition at the top of the stairs. It was a little girl.

“Hurry! She’s behind you!” she screamed.

Luke who was still behind Justin was shocked. He’d never seen her before. Then suddenly, he was being dragged down the stairs.
Luke began to scream as his face hit back and fourth on the stairs. Justin started after him.

“Luke!”

Justin was at the bottom of the stairs and he was pushed back so his back hit the stairs. Luke was still being pulled all around the bottom floor, screaming. Justin tried to get up, but it was like something was pinning him down. He was paralyzed.
Justin started to tear up and scream his love’s name. He could feel the pain swelling up inside of him. He hated not being able to protect Luke.

“This is not your home anymore! Leave! Go away!” hollered Justin.

Just as he hollered that, he felt his paralysis float away.

“Justin!” he heard Luke call.

It didn’t sound as if Luke was in anymore trouble. Justin got up and started to explore the bottom floor, lit only by his flashlight.

“Luke, where are you?!” called Justin.
“I’m in the parlor!”

Justin made his way to the parlor, that part of the floor not wet. Justin saw Luke and they ran into each other’s arms. They found time for a few kisses. They both started to tear.

“I thought I lost you.” said Justin.
“I’m not going anywhere without a fight.” said Luke

Justin and Luke squeezed tighter. Justin examined the cuts on Luke’s face from hitting the stairs.

“We really need to get out of this house.” said Luke.

Justin and Luke started up the stairs one more time. They made their way back to Justin’s mother’s room. The door was still propped up. Justin and Luke carefully moved it out of the way.

“Luke, what happened to your face?” asked Trey.
“I’m okay. It’s nothing for you to worry about.” said Luke
“Why are you guys wet?” asked Kevin.
“For some reason, there’s water downstairs.” said Justin.
“Where’s Craig?” asked Luke
“I don’t know. One minute, he was here and the next…”

Justin and Luke looked around with their flashlights. The spotted the window.

“The window’s open.” said Justin.

Justin went rushing to the window.

* * *

After the door snapped back onto the hinges, Craig backed up against the wall. He turned around and noticed that he was backing into the window. He felt like he wanted to say something, but he couldn’t open his mouth. He started to panic, but he could make a peep. He couldn’t even move.
The window behind him began to lift. Whatever had him forced him to poke his head down the window. In his eye sight he saw a fence with sharp spikes. His heart jumped into his throat. Sweat bead started to roll from his forehead. He couldn’t make a peep and he couldn’t move an inch.

* * *

Justin looked out the window. He looked down and screamed from the top of his lungs. Luke ran to his side and looked out the window and down.

“Oh my God!”

Craig was hanging on the fence, the spikes going straight through his body.
Luke pulled Justin from the window.

“You guys, what is it?” asked Kevin.
“Craig…he’s dead.”
“Oh my God!” hollered Trey.

David started crying and Ashley hugged him.

“We really need to get out of here.” said Kevin.

At that instant, they heard a stomping and it was coming from the third floor.

“I have a funny feeling that this isn’t over.” said Trey
“Not by a long shot.” said Luke.

Justin pulled Kevin aside.

“What’s wrong?” asked Kevin
“When, ah, we were downstairs, we saw Mark.”
“Well, where is he?” asked Kevin
“He’s dead.” whispered Justin.

Kevin put his hand over his mouth as his eyes began to mist.

“Are you sure?” he whispered
“Yeah, I’m sure.” said Justin.
“We have to get out of here, but that window is not an option, neither is any of the doors or any of the other windows. The doors just won’t open and we don’t want to mess around with broken glass.”
“Then what do you subject that we do; wait here to get killed by these psycho ghosts?” asked Kevin.
“No, we figure out a way to get them to leave.”

Justin started to pace the room in thought. Then, he had an idea.

“I know. What about that third floor?” asked Justin.
“What about it?” asked Kevin.
“It’s been closed off ever since we moved here. Mom said that it might be dangerous so we shouldn’t go up there. What if it has something to do with the people who lived here before us? What if it has something to do with the ghosts?”
“I’ll go up there.” said Kevin
“Not without me you’re not.”
“No, I’ll go up there alone. I’m the oldest. It’s my job to protect all of you.”
“Oh shut the fuck up with that protector crap. I’m going with you.” said Justin
“Going with him where?” asked Luke
“Yeah, where?” asked Trey
“To the third floor.” said Justin. “It’s been closed off since we moved here. We think that it may have something to do with these ghosts.”
“You two are not going up there without us.” said Luke
“Yeah” said Trey
“Someone has to stay here with David and Ashley.” said Justin
“I will.” said Trey.
“Are you sure?” asked Kevin.

Kevin rubbed Trey’s shoulder gently.

“Yeah, you guys go.” said Trey

Justin looked to David and Ashley and they had fallen asleep together in the corner.

“Thank you Trey.” said Justin
“Yeah, it’s really good of you.” said Kevin.

Kevin looked into Trey’s eyes. He felt total love for him.

“Can you give us a minute?” Kevin asked Justin and Luke.
“Sure, we’ll be in the hallway, but hurry. We have to get this over with.”

Justin and Luke left the room.

“Just in case I don’t make it out…”
“Don’t say that.” interrupted Trey.
“No, just in case, I want to say that I…I love you.”
“You’re going to be okay, Kevin. I believe that and I want to say that I, ah, I love you too.”

Kevin put his hand softly on Trey’s cheek and gave a kiss on the other cheek.

“Be careful.” said Trey.
“I will.”
“Let’s go Kevin.” said Justin from the hall.

Kevin met Justin in the hall.

“Are you ready?” asked Justin.
“I’m scared.” said Luke
“Don’t worry. I won’t let anything happen to you.” said Justin.

The three of them walked down the hallway and to the next stair case. There was a door that was put in after the events in this house took place all those years ago in the early 1900s.
It was a door with no handle and it had been boarded with wooden planks and nails. The three of them kicked at the planks and they quickly gave in for they were old and frail. Then they each took turns kicking at the door.
The door wasn’t as frail. It seemed to be thick and wooden. It took a while, but they finally got it open. Passed the door, the hallways were covered with spider webs and dust. The walls were dark and nothing was as modern as the rest of the house which was remodeled for sale in the 1980s. The house wasn’t sold until the Moore family bought it, but was still more modern than this third floor.
The hallway was flooded with rooms much like a motel. The only light going through was the light of their flashlights.
They walked to the end of the hallway which was dominated by a big, wooden double door. Justin put his hand out to the door handle.

“Be careful, Justin.” whispered Kevin.

Justin turned the handle carefully and opened the door. As the door opened they heard a loud shriek. It was a woman’s shriek. It made all three of them shudder.