The Ghost Files

Chapter Twenty Six

I'm groggy, but the steady drip, drip, drip wakes me. It must be either a sink or the water hose. I hurt everywhere. I try to move, but I'm tied down too tight. I listen for Mr. Olson, but I can't hear anything. He might be gone, but then again he might be waiting. The ghost cold is still here, so I know I'm not alone at least. I still can't believe they are here for me, trying to comfort me after the way I've treated them all these years. They actually give me strength.

The knife had reduced me to a blubbering fool. I can still feel it against my skin, slicing here and there. As much as I hate admitting the weakness, I can't stop the shudder from running through me. I have to get out of here before he uses that knife again. I need help, though.

I try to speak, but can't. My throat is too swollen. I can barely draw in a breath. So not good. Think, Mattie. Dr. Olivet said I was connected to them, that my energy was a beacon for them. Thoughts are a form of energy. Maybe I don't have to speak for them to hear me. Ridiculous, but who knows?

"Emma, Eric, can you hear me?" my mind sends.

Silence. I try again. "Can any of you hear me? I can't speak, but know you're here. I can feel you. Please say you can hear me."

The cold presses closer. I can feel it start to crystalize on me. Maybe they can hear me after all. "I know you're scared. I'm scared. Will you talk to me? Please?"

"We tried to warn you, to stop you." was the answer.

Yes! They can hear me. I don't recognize the voice though. It's no one I've talked to before. "What's your name?"

"I'm Tina." She sounded older.

"Tina, I need you to help me get out of here," I begin.

"How?" was her tentative question.

I had nothing to lose. Just tell her. "I need to get the ropes loosened enough so that I can work my hands free. Can you do that? I know it's hard, that it requires a lot of energy to make things move, but together, can you do it?" If I could get enough breath, I'd be holding it, waiting for the answer.

"I have tried, but I can't. We all have tried so many times for so many others. We can't."

I groan – very softly, since my throat hurts. So, they're ghosts. I can't expect much from them because they're confused and scared. Asking them to move something would be hard, let alone trying to untie me. It would probably require more energy than they all had put together. Okay, so there went plan A. On to plan B. What is plan B? I don't have a clue.

"Do you see us? Emma said you could."  It is a little boy this time, but I don't know how old he is." She said you saw the scary place, the white place."

Right. The Between? I saw it once.Where is the kid going with this? Dr. Olivet told me to run from it if I ever saw it again, that there were things in it that were not so nice. Then again, I'm trapped in a place that's not so nice at the moment too. I thought back to when I'd seen it. I'd fallen from the upstairs down to the basement. Literally went through the floor. Could I do that again? Could I move from one place to another by going into all that white fuzz? It might get me out of the bonds holding me too. Then again, I might get trapped in the dirt. I'd fallen before and am pretty sure I'm in the basement. Crap. There's nowhere else to fall.

"No, Bobby, she'll get hurt," That was Tina. "There are things there, things that will hurt us. Eric said so."

Oh, really? Mirror Boy told them not to go there? They have to go there to cross over to the other side. He has no right denying them their right to cross over. I'll tell them.