Murder, She Lived. (Paranormal)

One

(This story will contain mature themes such as blood, murder, violence and mentions of suicide and self harm. If a scene gets too intense for you feel free to send me a message and I will give you a revised version of this chapter that only mentions the triggering things, and does not go into full detail.)

One.

There was blood all over the floor, blood on the walls, on the sofa-- everywhere. Caroline choked on the metallic liquid, her thoughts a jumbled heap of chaos. She hadn't seen the intruder until he had already plunged the knife deep into her chest, and when she had seen his face her vision was too blurry from her tears, and she could manage no noise but a silent help. Charlie had already been dead for nearly a century when the Walk's moved into the house his human body once occupied. Occupied by his spirit instead, he had grown a deep attachment to the young, seventeen year old girl. He watched her cry when her parents fought, watched her laugh when her infant brothers first words were muddled and impossible to understand, and now he was watching her die. If he wanted to save her he would need to think fast, but there wasn't much a ghost could truly do. Aside from the occasional glass breaking and door slam, Charlie had never used his strength to involve himself in the human world. The more he tried at stepping into the modern world the more his soul grew cold, more evil. Haunted houses don't typically begin that way. Evil spirits were just spirits who weren't ready to let go of the world of the living, and they paid the ultimate price. Losing their humanity.

"C-caroline." Charlie heard Caroline's mother whisper out her name. In an instant, Charlie had left Caroline's side and stood before her mother. A single bullet wound to the chest, she would die within minutes. "Caroline," she gurgled on her blood. Suddenly, her eyes drifted up to Charlie's and widened. She could see him, see the young boy who had not taken a breath in years.

The mother reached her hand up to Charlie. She was not afraid. "My Caroline, help her. Please."

Charlie stood, frozen, in shock that the dying woman could see him. It was certain, then, that she would die. The living only see the dead before they join them, unless you are of the very few who obtain the gift of sight.

"Save her!" The mother yelled out, using her last breath for a plea so desperate that it shook Charlie to the core. Charlie, however, was selfish. He had been alone in that house for so long, and a death as brutal as murder would surely leave Caroline trapped there with him. He wanted her company, craved it. The pain she was in would end soon and then she would never feel pain again. Caroline and Charlie would be painless together, forever.

Once again he stood above Caroline's body. He expected her to look at him, to see his ghost, but she did not. Her eyes blinked slowly, a dead look in them. She can be saved, a voice taunted Charlie, the voice of the dark side calling to him. But you don't want to save her, do you? Let her die and you will become one of us. Charlie tensed, he couldn't do this, he couldn't let her die. He wouldn't wish an eternity of loneliness in the torturous home of Creeplys' street on anyone. Especially not the beautiful girl he fell in love with, the one who would never know he was there.

So Charlie did what he had to do, and he used all of the strength he could muster to press down on the emergency button that lit up Caroline's cell phone. It was too much, he knew. He had entered the human world in a way he could never remove himself from amd he would never be the same again. He stood in Caroline's bedroom as he watched her die, slowly. He felt anger, he wanted to hurt everything in sight, wanted to paint the walls red in blood.

Welcome home, Charlie. We've been waiting for you.

It had been done, Charlie was no longer good.

Still, as he looked down at Caroline whose long, blonde hair was now red with her blood, he still felt the urge to protect her. And what Charlie didn't know was that she held the final piece of him not yet consumed by the dark side.