Entry 43: Sweeping up the cookie crumbs -Ben, Carl, John-

 --------------------------------------------Ben---------------------------------
"I know how to stop all this."

They turned to me in surprise. I guess none of them realized I was up.

"Dude, calm down." Carl's voice was rife with caution.

"Let's sit down and talk about it." John was inching toward the nearest thing that could be used as a weapon.

"What's wrong with you guys? You're acting like I'm gonna attack you. I know for a while my delirium made me think of you guys as enemies, but I really feel fine now."

They visually became less tense. Carl kept his eyes on me though. Jay walked over to me with a pile of papers. He was tall and his hair looked like it was covered in grease to keep it straight.

"I was doing some delving and I've found some adoption papers. I guess the rumors were wrong, they didn't have a daughter; they had a son."

I was understanding him and I think my face showed it because he continued, "The son survived and was adopted . . . "

"So he's alive today?"

"Ben, he was adopted by the Wiltshire family. Your family."

My legs gave out and I found myself in a chair that had been dragged over by Carl. This whole time I'd thought that my parents were my real family when they hadn't. I knew I was an only child, so it had to be me. My real name was Benjamin Ashford.

"Oh my God. I never knew. That's why I have the book, that's why this all is happening to me."

"We'd figured out as much. We haven't gone to take care of the problem, because you were possessed. I'm guessing you're not now?", Carl was very straight with me.

"No, I don't think so. I did how ever get to speak to our infamous Mr. Giggles. All that's happened is because he needed to complete some unfinished business."

I relayed what happened in my dream to them and was greeted with loud sounds of sudden understanding.

"That explains a lot." Carl seemed very happy that all the events were coming together.

"So let me get this straight," John piped up from nearby, "Oliver is one of the children that Mr. Giggles, aka. William Schermerhorn, had tried to kill?"

"Yes."

"And he was trying to reach a certain number of children bones in the well? How ever, Oliver killed him just before dieing himself, which put a damper on his plans."

"Exactly, so he possessed Wilson Ashford. How ever, before he could get complete control, Wilson was captured in a room; the room with all those symbols. Which, I think, trapped the spirit in there as well; at least until the symbols slowly faded. Then the spirit was released, so he attempted to get someone to move the bones to end his torment and let him pass."

"Which is you." I'd almost forgot Jay was there.

"Apparently."

"Then let's go." Carl was all ready headed out the door. I grabbed my coat and followed the rest of them out. We all piled into my car and headed to the Ashford house.

When we arrived, dark clouds had covered the sky, making the house look foreboding. We could all feel the danger, but we had no idea why. I was the only person who knew where the bones were. I was the first to the bathroom, but there was something all ready there. A man I didn't recognize stood in the way.

"You mustn't go any further. You need to stop helping him." The man began to fade.

"Who are you?"

"You know me as Wilson. Your father."

I pushed aside my curiosity and began to kick at the wall. By the time the others had arrived, the apparition was gone and a door was revealed. That's when the building began to shake.

A voice filling every area of the house and our minds made us all freeze as the house shook, "Leave now! You don't belong here. You are all evil beings."

We all heard Carl yell as he is thrown backwards into a room. The door slammed as John ran over to help him. No matter how much John screamed and pounded on the door, it never budged.

I ignored the commotion and pulled open the door. The smell that sprang out to me made me sick instantly. I was lucky I was in the bathroom or I would have made a mess on the floor.

--------------------------------Carl---------------------------------------

Since we all experienced what went on in the house, Ben wants us all to write. Most of what happened to me while I was in that room, so I'm going to focus on that.

After the door shut, the room went very dark and silent. I knew John was pounding on the door but it was far off, like miles away. I stood and took my usual stance, prepared to fight any thing that came at me, but I wasn't at all expecting what they showed me.

It was Alex. He came out of the shadows toward me.

"You."

"Alex? What, what are you doing here?" My strength had been sucked away by the sight of him.

"You could have saved me, but you didn't. You could have stopped me, stopped your brother but you were weak, pathetic, . . . human."

"I tried but neither of you would listen. I tried." I'm a tough guy. I won't hesitate to admit that there may have been tears, but I don't remember very well.

"You tried? You gave in at the mention of people dieing. You could have let them die to save me, aren't your friends worth that much? I didn't have to die, you caused it all. It's your fault, all your fault."

He kicked me in my ribs and I took the hit; I couldn't look at him. He was right. I didn't stop them. I had let him die.

---------------------------------Ben--------------------------------------

I grabbed the bones and ran past John and Jay, who stood looking at each other outside. There were words being thrown back and forth but I ignored them.

----------------------------------John--------------------------------------

My pounding was getting me nowhere. I had to try something else so I turned to Jay.

"Jay, help me. We need to get him out."

"He can handle himself. Not like you, you are always in his shadow. You will never amount to him."

Maybe this house had me wired but I just couldn't take that. So I swung, hitting Jay squarely in the jaw. He didn't flinch and my punches aren't weak. Something was going on, and it was affecting us all. This confused me. If the spirit wanted us to help him, why was he trying to stop us? It didn't make any sense.

"Your violence proves my words. You are never going to amount to him; ever. Even Alex saw that you were weak. That's why he gave his life to save you. He knew your weakness and didn't hate you for itm and what did you give him? Death. He died for you. You will never amount to your brother and will always be in Alex's debt."

Possessed or not, he was NOT going to talk about me and Alex like that! When I swung this time . . . he went down.

--------------------------------Ben-------------------------------------

I ran outside the house and made my way to the well and tossed the bones over the side. The man appeared again.

"You fool. Now William will be unleashed. My brother will be alive again."

"Your what?"

"My brother was an evil man. He kidnapped children and kept them in this very house till they were filled with despair, and then he butchered them. He died and haunted me, eventually possessing me. He made me kill my child. Eventually my wife and I got wind of his plans and I was locked up in a room to contain him. My wife watched over me while taking care of our newborn, but she was stricken with an illness and by a streak of luck the baby was found. That's you, Ben."

The ground started to crack around me, which is when I realized I had been duped.

------------------------------------------------Carl----------------------------------

He just kept hitting me and I did nothing to stop him. I could have stopped him from jumping into the pit but I didn't. Instead, I held John back to allow Alex to jump. I allowed that to happen.

"I have waited for years to exact my revenge on you. I regret saving you."

"Please, just forgive me. Please!" Every thing was doused in darkness besides me and him. He hit me again and I could taste the blood on my tongue.

------------------------------------------------John---------------------------------

"He's in there laughing at you. He can see how much trouble you’re having and wants you to die because of your weakness."

I know that Jay can be cruel sometimes, but never like this. Sadly, there was no denying that I was on the ground and he wasn't. I pushed myself to my feet, trying to get a bearing on him, but my vision suddenly blurred.

"Jay, I'm warning you. You'd stop if you knew what was good for you."

The fist came out of nowhere and I was thrown into the wall.

"Alex hates that he died for you. He hates you."

I clenched my fist and swung.

--------------------------------------Carl---------------------------------

"HAAARRRRRAAAAAHHHH!", I screamed as I leapt toward Alex. I wasn't going to die here whether he was right or not.

"Now you mock me by fighting." Alex slapped me aside easily.

"I will not let your sacrifice be in vain, so I will fight even you to make sure I live." I hit the ground and rolled into the door.

"Life is that important? You'd be willing to deny your dead friend’s last request just to stay alive?" The image of Alex slowly changed to that of a young woman.

I stood on shaking legs, "He died to make sure we would live. The only way to repay that is to keep my brother and I alive for as long as I can. His name is something you should be careful to mock."

"You are exactly the type of people I want my son to be associated with. I will leave you now, and I hope you find peace."

I turned and smashed through the door. My brother needed my help.

-----------------------------------------John-------------------------------

The door next to us burst open and Carl smashed into Jay with such power, that he was taken through the wall next to us.

"Carl, I think Jay's Possessed! Don't hurt him too much." I tried to get him to hear but my voice barely rose above the wailing that had started.

I could hear the wet smacks as Carl swung fist after fist into Jays face. The only thing that made him stop was Jay crying out as he was released from the possession.

--------------------------------------Ben------------------------------------

"You mean to tell me that this whole time you've been trying to keep him from succeeding?"

"Why do you think so many ended up dead? We couldn't let him possess them so we had to either kill them or scare them away. I used my knife and my wife contracted her fatal disease. We couldn't kill you though, so instead I gave you my book and hoped that you'd figure it out before this. I was wrong."

"What's going to happen then?" The symbol of Ghat appeared around the well and then disintegrated right before my eyes. My Father’s image was blasted away. I turned to face the well just in time to see a charred hand grasp the edge.

"Thank you, my good Ben, for helping me achieve greatness." There stood William Schermerhorn, my recently revealed uncle; his body charred and cracked but very much moving.

"You tricked me!"

"I was hoping for immortality, but since I was dead, I guess I'll have to settle for alive." He stepped down from the well and made his way toward me, "Now we can go across the country collecting children for your immortality. Wouldn't you like that Ben?"

"You're sick and I'm nothing like you."

"Nothing like me? I killed children, your father killed them and you will too. It's only a matter of time. So let’s cut the chase and just start now. I have this whole new life ahead of me to teach you my ways."

I reached down and grabbed a rather large stick that had fallen from a nearby tree in all the craziness, "I will never take a life."

"You want to kill me right no-" His sentence was cut off in the middle as his head was cut clean off with an axe.

"Maybe he does," Carl laughed, "But I will actually do it." Nearby stood John, who was holding up a very beaten Jay.

The winds died down and we all turned toward the road.

"So that's it?"

"I think so. William is hopefully rotting in Hell and the other ghosts don't have any reason to kill again. So I think it's over."

"Dude," John motioned for my attention. As I leaned in he looked me straight in the eye and said, "your parents suck."