207: Sanity -Saba-

"You won't survive this. Let me out . . . I can protect you."

I shook my head as I ran down the hall away from the horrible, young child that Will had left for me to keep an eye on. The girl claimed that she was Crystal's sister, but it was an obvious lie. When we were alone I called her on the lie and she just flipped out.

I heard the teeny explosions as people looked out to find what the noise was, only to have their heads removed from their bodies. Whoever this girl was, she had immense power and was a danger to everyone. I glanced back to see her slowly walking down the hall behind me.

Behind her, the hallway was a mess of blood and brain matter. As the girl stepped on the rug little splashes of blood splattered on her and the walls. Her face was in a state of ecstasy as though she was getting her fix off every head that explodes in her presence.

"I can't let you out. I'll never get you back under control. You could hurt the people I care about."

More explosions. A family of four becomes a family of none.

"I thought we came to an agreement?! You're going to die unless you let me take over."

The other me was right, and I was running out of hallway. I pushed open the door to the stairs and quickly made my way down.

"The only agreement we came to was keeping Ben safe. This isn't affecting Ben at all."

I was halfway down the second set of stairs when the door above flew off its hinges. I could hear steps down the stairs as I finished the second set.

"Wow." Her voice was childish and malicious, "Being around you makes it easier for me to get the pieces I need. I wonder what it'd be like if I could just get inside your head."

My foot caught on a step and I tumbled down the stairs. An attempt to stand was met with extreme pain through out my entire leg.

"If you're dead, then you can't protect Ben. If she reaches us before you stop being stupid then we're dead . . . you have to know that. Just . . . give me control."

No choice. No choice but to let her be in control. She could help.

I looked at the top of the stairs and my breath caught. There she was staring down at me like a hungry beast at their next meal. She was terrifying, powerful, small, fragile . . . dead.

"It's about time you caught up to me." I smiled my signature dark smile, "I've always wanted to know what it'd feel like to wear a child's skin."

She paused, "Well, this is different."

Her face was what I concentrated on. It was an expression that was the best part of being a monster. The only emotion I felt was the right one to be expressed toward me. This girl was scared.

"Mmmmm." I pulled myself up ignoring the pain in my leg, something the other me could never do, "All this violence is making me tingly in places children your age shouldn't know about."

"What are you? Why aren't you terrified of me anymore?", she pulled herself together and the fear disappeared.

"I eat your type for breakfast . . . " I winked, "Literally."

I stepped up the stairs toward her, and she took a step back. I could see that she was weighing her options. I had completely surprised her.

"When they sent you up here to me, did you expect someone fragile and weak? Ben's much smarter than that. He didn't send you to me because of my weaker, more humane," I spit, "self. I'm the reason he left you here. So let's start with what you are."

As I made my way up the stairs I could tell she wasn't sure what to do, but I knew she understood the trouble she was in.

"I'm very old and much stronger than you." She obviously believed that, "I've been around for as long as humans have existed, maybe even longer."

"You aren't telling me anything of importance." I took a deep breath of the blood scented air, "These are your last moments, the least you could do is be more open with me."

Red flooded the front of the girl's dress, but she didn't scream. Instead she looked at me and smiled, "You want me to be more open? Well, how's this for being open?"

With that the girl's body burst open and fell to the floor. Standing in her place was a tall red-headed young woman completely nude and covered with blood. It was my turn to be put off guard by this unusual transformation.

"Ahh, so I've collected enough pieces to manifest my true form." She looked at me with eyes that I'd seen many times. She was an unsigned Goddess. One of Patrick's kind. I suddenly felt completely outranked.

"I'm not unsigned. I passed with flying colors and was signed." She smiled and bowed, "I'm the Goddess of Memory, or at least I was until they locked me away."

In a second she had me against the wall with her hand at my throat. Her strength was amazing, more so than even Bob had exhibited. I could feel her fingers biting into my neck.

"Sex-y." I smiled at her, "Why don't you and me find a room somewhere? I'll teach you how to scream with out making a sound."

Her grip tightened, "All I need from you is the piece I'm missing." She put her other hand on my forehead and after a few moments her face became quizzical, "You- don't have it. Why don't you have the piece I need?" She slammed me against the wall, "What are you?!"

I had trouble talking, "Let's play . . .", I coughed the words out slowly, "some show and tell."

My weaker self was screaming at me to stop making her mad. I took her advice in to consideration long enough to spit in the Goddess' face. She tossed me down the stairs in response. I hit the floor and slid in to the wall.

"You are not important to me if you are not in possession of what I seek. You can leave with your life.", she turned to walk away, but I wasn't having that. I called upon the dead, urging them to wrap themselves around the door she'd kicked down earlier.

"STOP!" She did, and slowly turned around.

"You are just asking for me to kill you." She tilted her head, "Or could you be trying to save the people of this hotel?"

That question made me very confused. I could just let her go, she wasn't a threat to me or anyone I cared about right now. Why was I stopping her? That's when it hit me, I was losing control. I took a deep breath of the disgusting air and all I wanted was Ben to hold me.

A loud clang was heard behind the Goddess as the door fell to the ground. My powers had faded because the evil me was deep within. I fearfully looked at the red haired Goddess and gave my best fearless face.

"You're a big meany-head."

She started laughing. She laughed for about 2 minutes and then her laughter turned to screams, "NO! . . . agh . . . urgh . . . I need more pieces . . . I need a body to hold me."

Her eyes fell on me and I felt a cold chill.

202: Black Baggers -Alice-

The grass beneath my feet felt cool and comfortable as the world around me came to focus. I found myself standing in a grove of trees outside of a massive building that looked like something out of ancient lore.

Ben had tried to explain everything and had told me how important it was that I find Alex, but now that I was in the Other Lands, everything seemed vibrant and interesting. Every sight tugged on my curiosity and filled me with awe.

The Other Lands seemed like Earth before humans covered most of the globe; natural and filled with a beauty not seen in many years. The large building I was next to didn't stick out against the natural beauty, instead it was built specifically to emphasize the world around it. I stared at the massive structure, my eyes following the flowing terraces and the columns that lined the walkway to the entrance.

The more I stood there looking, the more I noticed the silence of the place. The more I noticed the silence, the more unsettling it became. There were no noises from within this giant building. The air of abandonment was very evident as I stepped up to the entrance and read the words above it aloud, "The Academy." My voice echoed off the walls of the building.

I pushed on the heavy oaken doors and was surprised that I didn't flow straight through them. For the first time since I'd gotten here, I noticed that most of my ghostly properties were gone. I was still slightly translucent, but I couldn't travel through solid objects like I could on Earth. Here, I could feel my mortality, while on Earth I lacked the feeling of being alive. I knew as if by instinct that I could die here and I shuddered to think of what happened then.

The doors opened easy, swinging wide and slamming loudly against the walls. Stepping into the hallway, the first thing I noticed was the mess. It looked as though a battle had taken place inside this building, complete with broken furniture and dark brown bloodstains splattered on the walls. The place became intensely more creepy on the inside, but I was still led by my curiosity.

The door opened into a hallway and that hallway opened into a large courtyard. The plants of the courtyard had become overgrown, making it difficult to see across to the other side. The paths had survived the overgrowth, leaving natural hallways with walls of dense plant life. The sight was as breathtaking as it was disturbing. No one had been through these halls in many years. No one had been here to take care of the garden or clean up the place.

I climbed over a fallen archway and made my way down the path behind it. After a few minutes, I found myself staring at a tall, naked man standing in the middle of the walkway. The man was very pale and thin; skin hanging on his bones like clothes on a clothesline. His face was completely covered with what looked like a black, plastic bag tied tight around his neck. Even as I approached, the man didn't move. He just stood there, his arms slack at his sides and his head tilted as though looking at the floor.

I was terrified by the sight of him. He stood there still and silent, his chest not even moving to draw a breath. I pushed myself against the walls of green as I squeezed past, never taking my eyes off his thin frame. Who ever and what ever it was had left me utterly shaken, forcing me to increase the distance between me and it. I quickly turned my back to it and continued down the pathway.

I had made it about ten feet when a noise behind me made me freeze. I felt the blood drain from my face and my heart leap into my throat. I stood quietly listening for any sounds of movement. Hearing nothing I slowly turned around, and found myself staring at the black-bagged man. He stood three feet behind me unmoving again. He was facing in my direction, his head tilted like a curious child, though it was anything but endearing. The shock of him being so close nearly made me scream, but I grabbed my mouth. I fought to keep it in, fearful that if I did scream, what ever this thing was would hear me. The silence of the courtyard filled my ears as I sat there staring at the naked man.

Then it moved.

Slowly it stepped forward, so slowly that at first glance you would have never noticed. Even though the black bag kept me from seeing its face, I could tell it was staring at me. I began to crawl backwards, desperate to get away from the horror of its presence.

The further I moved away, the faster the black-bagged man moved. I spun to my feet and began to run, no longer trying to be silent. Fear filled me as I heard its heavy footfalls behind me. It was running too. I didn't glance behind me knowing that it was only a few feet away.

To the right near the ground I spotted an opening in the plants and dived through it. I pressed myself against the opposite wall as the man's arms stretched through the opening toward me. It tried to pull itself through the small opening, but soon quit trying when it realized it was too big. I breathed a sigh of relief. The relief didn't last long.

An ear-splitting scream, like something from the depths of Hell exploded from the pathway the creature was on. The sheer volume of the sound caused the sudden onset of a painful headache. When the sound had faded away another sound took its place. From all directions, the sounds of distant muffled screams slowly filled the silence.

This place was infested with these black-bagged people, and now they were all looking for me.

Entry 71: Return -Crystal-

The world blurred in to focus and I fell to the cold stone floor. The cave was lit up by the orb behind me and this scene formed before me.

Crazy Hat Guy was swinging an axe at the Goddess. The other guy was blocking the only exit. I glanced over to my left and saw another person laying still on the floor.

"That person needs help, Crystal."

I glanced to my right and saw that Nick was standing next to the glowing orb.

"This isn't another one of your suicide missions, is it?" I was surprised at my own voice. It came out more mature and it sounded good. I looked down at my self and saw that I was much taller. I had grown older.

"What?" This was unexpected.

"The human spirit is ageless. I could not return your body, so I asked your soul what it would prefer. It chose this. Now help him."

My body was skinny and my hair very long. I ran over to the person and ripped at his shirt.

He reached up to me, "Help . . . please . . . "

"You aren't dieing yet, sir. I'm gonna help you." I had to hurry. His blood was running out fast and I had to stop the bleeding. How did I know that?

Entry 46: Confusion -John-

I'm not weak. I'm not stupid. I've been fighting next to my brother for over a year. So, why is it that I'm always put aside when the battle starts to rage? Carl is usually the one to fight the big, bad ass and I'm stuck trying to hold my own against a stupid minion. Maybe the spirit was right. Maybe I am weak.

It's not like I don't have something to give to the group; I'm the rumor guy. My talent is talking to people and getting to information that would otherwise be unobtainable. Other than that, I am lacking in strength. I've trained with my brother and watched him surpass me. It doesn't matter. It's not like it bothers me too much.

What does bother me is the letter I got the other day. It was addressed to me and I found it under my pillow. When opened, it read, "You can bring him back."

It reminded me of Alex. I know that my brother did what he thought he needed to do, but I could have saved him. I know I could have, but again I'm viewed as weaker than him so he doubted me and instead held me back. I'll never forgive him for doing that, for letting Alex die . . . unless . . . I can bring Alex back. Maybe this note has something to do with that.

Entry 31: He's still sick -John-

Benjamin is still sick and keeps going in and out of consciousness. The doctors say that he'll be okay; that it's only a cold. Makes you wonder whether the real evil are these beasts we hunt or if it is the very humans we protect. How could they say this was just a cold? Ben hasn't moved in a week and we've done every thing we could just to keep our minds on the case.

Speaking of which, we've decided to go ahead with the book with out Ben's permission. We need to figure out what that well has to do with any thing that has been going on. The next page of the book told us a little more about William and allowed us to finally understand why there were two different writings in the book. Let me give you a run down of what we know so far, and we'll see exactly what we can figure out.

Wilson D. Ashford was studying the Paranormal, so he started this book. During his studies he found the Circle of Ghat, which he then used to enter the realm of the undead. While inside he was possessed by a spirit and when he escaped, the spirit lowered his ability to make good judgments; causing him to kill his child as "proof" to the reader. Because of this, Wilson's Wife, Dorothy; locked him away in a room using the very Circle of Ghat that condemned her husband to his fate. While inside, the spirit counted down the days till he was free and would be able to take his revenge out on his captor; while Wilson was beaten down by guilt over what he had done. We still are very unsure why there is so much blood spattered across each page, and we don't completely understand how many of these people became spirits in that house; but our investigation goes on.

Me and my brother will be going to the well tomorrow.

Entry 27: DAMN IT! -John-

Woke up this morning and knew something was up. Got that instinct from the job. Hunting the things I've been hunting sharpens your skills. Found Ben’s computer laying open on the floor with the book next to it. This isn't Ben, but I figure that you people want to be kept updated any way; so me and my brother will be posting till he can come back. I posted what he had written in the post before this one so that you can see what he was thinking. My name Johnathon Miller, and Benjamin Wiltshire . . . is missing.

Entry 26: Everything is clear -Ben-

It all makes sense; every thing is clear now. I know what spirit is haunting the house. I know why I got the book with out being hurt. I know why the kids died of the measles. It was all so simple, so clear. All I had to do was look at the facts. Each page is a clue. Each fold, each rip, each blood spatter… The room with symbols was a pri

Entry 25: Things I could have missed -Ben-

We still haven't gone to check out this Schermerhorn guy. I don't know why, but they seem to be waiting for something. Every time I mention it they tell me not yet, or give some other excuse not to go.

I showed them the next page in the book and they examined it for what seemed like hours. It was worth it, how ever, because both of them have an eye for finding things that are out of place. The first thing they noticed were the words, "My daughter, Susan Ashford," and how they were not right. They also took turns at guessing what was written in the torn off area.

John is stuck on the theory that Wilson Ashford was a twisted guy. John believes that the writing is changing because Wilson is slowly losing his mind. At first I thought his theory was crazy, but he cited other facts from past pages which made me wonder whether he was right. He mentioned how the words kept changing into a different handwriting and how weird it was for someone to argue on paper. He mentioned about how the other writing seemed to have intimate knowledge of Wilson. Knowledge that Wilson himself would probably be the only one to know. Maybe Wilson was crazy. I'm seriously thinking that he killed his own daughter, just to ensure proof for those who found the book.

Entry 24: Meeting John -Ben-

Today went fast. I met John and found him to be particularly annoying. Apparently, he's their rumor and local information gatherer. I will admit he did have a way of making me say more than I needed to.

Carl is John's brother, which I found odd; seeing as they are complete opposites. Carl is thin and muscular while John is large and not so muscular. John and Carl do share the same long hair, all though they both are different colors.

Even with their differences, they worked together very well. Carl and John talked over the information they'd found while I surfed the web for any information on William Schermerhorn. I found nothing; apparently my skills aren't good enough.

John immediately spoke up when the name William Schermerhorn was brought in to their conversation. He mentioned how he'd talked to someone with that last name.

The brothers bickered for a while. Carl wanted to go talk to him now and John wanted to call it a day. Personally, I would have liked to go, but after hearing those two go at it for an hour; I decided that we'd stay here and do more research.

I'm still hesitant to show them the book, so we just passed around our theories of the Wilson Case. Carl thinks that Wilson had maybe gone too far and it cost him his family and life. John, after being updated, thinks that Wilson was a nut job and that William was the guy that killed him.

Despite that they all showed up uninvited, I did enjoy them working with me. Maybe this is the start of something more.