Curse of Crossing Chapter 5

Curse of Crossing

Chapter 5

Ben

As I drive away and head back to the house there is a part of me that doesn’t want to leave Lizzy. I’ve never had this kind of feeling for a girl before and certainly not for one I just met. I’m sure it’s because we have just been through something really strange, not real feelings. Okay refocus Ben! I came here to find my parents. Hopefully the papers I found at my family’s old house will give me some clues to where they are. Crap! I hit my hand to my head at my stupidity. Just as I get close to the gate I realize I forgot the keys to get back in. So I turn around in the driveway and go back to Lizzy’s mom’s office. I hope she is still there because I have no idea where her father’s house is. Luckily it’s a short drive back to the office where I see Lizzy walking from the office to her car. I pull back into the spot in front of Lizzy’s car.

When I get out of the car she smiles a beautiful smile that makes me glad I forgot the house keys. “Did you miss me already?” She giggles and winks as she goes to the trunk of her car.

“I did and I forgot the keys to the house.” I walk to the back of her car and stand next to her.

She holds her finger up, runs into the office, and runs back out with the keys. “I’m so sorry. My mind is still in the basement of that house.” She hands me the keys and our hands touch. There is a slight shock. “Did you just feel that?” She’s looking at me with wide eyes. Then she shrugs her shoulders, “Hmph, must have been the metal or something.”

“No Lizzy. For the first time in my life I am not going to be the skeptic. There is a connection between us. I don’t know why, but I know when I drove away I really did miss you.” I step closer to Lizzy.

She doesn’t move away. I put my hand up to the side of her face and feel the shock again. I lean down and softly kiss her lips. There is another shock, but one that sends chills down my entire body. I put my other hand on the other side of her face and press harder. Lizzy wraps her arms around my waist and we deepen the kiss. This is getting intense. I break away for a breath. We stare into each others eyes for a moment. Yeah, it’s time to go before I decide to never leave her. I give her a quick kiss and practically sprint for my car. Parents first, exploring this crazy connection with Lizzy later. After I pull out and u-turn, I slow to wave at her before I go back to the Crossing house. She is still standing there looking a little confused. She gives a little wave back, but no smile. Yep, I ruined it by kissing her. It was too forward especially since we just met. I just couldn’t resist anymore. For some reason it was kiss her now or never. Man, I hope she was okay with that kiss. Lizzy didn’t push away. She actually pulled me in. I’ll call her later.

When I pull into the Crossing house driveway, the gate is open. We were so freaked out when we left, we forgot to lock it. I wonder how my parents got in if the gate stays locked all of them time? The old couple must have been alive when my parents were here. Lizzy’s mom said she didn’t know anything about my parents so it couldn’t have been her. Great! That’s another thing to add to my parent’s mysterious disappearance.

I park beside the house, get out, and go to the front door. When I get up to it and insert the key I feel that chill again. Yeah, I’m a bit freaked out too, but didn’t want to look girly in front of Lizzy. I have to push through this so I open the front door and walk in. All of this may be getting to me, but there is still a feeling of being at home in this big old house. I go straight to the couch and remember that Lizzy took all of the papers with her that we found in the hidden room in the basement. There are more papers down there, but I really don’t want to go down by myself. I sit down on the couch, rub my face with my hands, and contemplate what to do. When I lean back to just relax a minute I hear a crunch. I get up and pull the seat cushion away from the couch. When I do I notice a rolled up parchment. It looks really old so I put it on the small wooden coffee table in front of the couch and carefully roll it out. It’s a sketch of the house. I haven’t been through the entire house yet so I’m not sure what or where all of the rooms are. This will help me to find my way around. I immediately check out the cellar that’s on the sketch. It shows the hidden room. Then on this floor I see the room I’m in, a couple of other rooms like this one, and a kitchen. I follow the staircase upstairs on the sketch and see about six possible bedrooms and three bathrooms. There is one room that is larger than the rest so I’m assuming it’s the master bedroom. Some of the lines have faded a bit so I’m really not sure about its accuracy. As I’m looking closer in the master room I see a fireplace, but there is another room behind the fireplace. That’s odd for the time when this house was built or maybe it wasn’t. I know very little about the time period. If my family was into trading that could have been built to keep some trades hidden. Okay, now I’m just letting my imagination get away from me. I decide it’s time to take a look at that secret room. Carefully, I roll the house sketch back up and decide it might be wise to take it with me.

I’m glad it’s still light out because I have no idea where all of the power switches and lamps are in this place. Guess I better find them soon if I plan to stay here tonight. I get to the stairs and take the first step up and it creeks as all the steps do as I go up. When I get to the top I unroll the parchment again to see where the master bedroom is. It’s to the left of the stairs. When I open the door and walk in, the room is ice cold. That’s really strange since the rest of the house is pretty warm. There is a huge, oak four poster bed in front of the fireplace. I walk over to the fireplace and look for some hidden latch, but don’t find one. So I push on the wall where the hidden room should be, but it doesn’t budge. Well now, where is my twin ghost when you need him! I walk over to the window to look at the sketch again. That’s when I notice the brick fireplace hearth. There’s one brick missing to the right of the fireplace opening. It’s the one right above the hearth. I look at the actual fireplace and the brick is there. I go over and try to pull it out, but it doesn’t budge. So I do the next logical thing and push on it. Yep that worked and now I’m officially creeped out. The fireplace opens up in the back. There is a strange suction sound as it opens, like it was sealed or something. I get on my knees to look in and get a whiff of the most horrible smell I have ever smelled. I’m not sure I want to go in there. It smells like a bunch of dead animals got trapped in there. I stand to really think this over. Maybe I should call Lizzy and let her know what I found. No, she’s busy with her own family papers. I’m about to leave the room when my twin ghost comes floating into the room and goes right through the fireplace into the secret room. Okay then, I guess I’m going in. He led me to the secret room in the cellar where Lizzy and I found this sketch among the other papers. Guess now is the time to start believing in signs, and ghosts for that matter. It’s time to crawl into the dark creepy fireplace into an unknown room. I roll the parchment back up and lay it on the bed so it doesn’t get ruined while I’m trying to crawl in. Then, I get on my hands and knees and crawl through. Ugh, the smell gets worse, but the air from the bedroom is helping to air it out a little. I don’t see any light in the other room. Now is the time I wish I had Lizzy’s handy LED light from her keychain. I’m sure there will be something in the room. When I get through the fireplace I know I can stand because the sketch showed it to be a larger room. I walk two steps and ram my thighs into a table. I feel around and come across what feels like another candelabrum like the one in the cellar. Right beside it is a box of matches. I have to say they did keep things handy in these secret rooms. I light the four candles. It illuminates the whole room. There are no windows. I look to the left and see a bunch of paintings and more old parchments. Well if this is truly my family home I will have some fun going through all of this. Guess I was right about this being a hiding room for some so-called trades. I start to turn around and notice this room was definitely sealed. Everything is very well preserved including the paintings. I do almost a full circle and notice something on the other side of the room. It’s dark on the other side so I grab the candelabrum and start to walk over. Everything illuminates. NO! I shakily drop to my knees. There are two skeletons sitting against the wall. It can’t be! Tears start flowing when I look down at their hands joined together. It’s my mother’s wedding ring. Then I look over to see my father’s wedding band and his cell phone in the same hand. They can’t be dead. No, this is not them. I refuse to believe this! I grab my cell, but see there is no signal in here. It’s time to call Lizzy and get the police out here. I turn to crawl back out. The opening is shutting.

I crawl as fast as I can, look under to the other side, and start screaming, “I’m in here! Don’t close it!”

No one hears me because there is no one on the other side. The opening fully closes, reseals, and the candles go out. I’m in the dark and will soon be just like my parents. My only hope now is Lizzy.