Chapter 7
"Oh no no no!" Fiona panicked calling out after wherever Hannah had gone.
"What what happened?"
"Always thought it was just me getting lost but it was her she's doing it again...Hannah....your friend...You need to...." She trailed off realizing leaving was still no longer an option for them, the look of helplessness crept into her face and she shifted her feet under her in such a way Abby feared she would try to run away. "You shoulda left when we told you to!"
Abby caught her by the arm before she could stand, holding her close trying to coax her back to sitting.
"Please! Just...Its okay. We will be okay, I promise."
"How can you promise that?!" Fiona tried to pull away without looking at either of them. She pulled her knees to her chest pressing her hands over her head, "That's what they told me when they locked me away!" Fiona let out a short harsh breath and huffed a weak sob.
"They locked me away, they said it was best. That they'd help me. She got me anyway."
"She wants your friends. She's not gonna stop now. I just wanted to....I didn't think...I thought I could help."
"Do you know where she took them? Hannah and Holtz?" Fiona just shook her head. The walkie suddenly crackled loudly. Abby grabbed it and held it close to her face to listen. "Holtz?" Abby tried to respond but cursed when all the walkie did was screech.
Maybe we can track Hannah on the radar?" Patty pulled the radar off her belt and studied it. There were various dots sprinkled through out the radar, the big red one being the banshee, the little blue ones the various other specters floating in and out of the ether
"Wait. I think that may be her? The blue dot yeah?" Abby snatched the radar from Patty and practically shoved it in her own face, turning it over.
"I think that's the front of the building? Lets go!" When Patty didn't get up Abby gave her a quizzical gesture.
"You go hun we'll catch up in a second."
Abby's shoulders dropped a little giving patty a 'Really?' look but patty was sure and gave her a nod and a sweeping motion with her hands assuring her they'd be fine. She nodded, scooping up Holt'z gear and followed the GPS trail. Once Abby was out of sight Patty returned her attention back on Fiona's cowering state.
"Its gonna be okay baby, were professionals. We're gonna do our damned best to stop this lady in the mirror, everything we can."
"You believe me." Fiona said in awe, eyes wide. She blinked and looked away down at her hands tapping her fingertips against her thumb, a residual Erin trait. "They said I was mad you know. I kept seein a big white cat. Followed me everywhere. Didn't think much of it, lots of cats in our town. but no one else saw it. Started sittin on my bed every night and just stared at me. Didn't meow, didn't purr nothin. Somethin not right about it."
"I touched only once to pet it and it was so cold, figured it was a ghost. No one else could see it, they didn't believe me.But it was watchin me, was followin me! No one believed me not even Ma." Patty's heart went out to her again. She clearly remembered Erin's story of her own haunting, the bullying and the people who denied her stories. People hadn't changed much throughout the years she thought and what an unfortunate coincidence an actual ghost girl.
"What happened next?" Patty asked softly and Fiona shot the same stunned look at her again, still shocked someone was listening and actually believing her. "Go on I'm listening."
"I followed it one day. To see if I could find where it came from and I got lost. I got backward and strange ended up on the other side of town don't know how but the cat was with me still. Then I started getting lost other places even when the cat wasn't there. Places I never even been! Then they locked me away so I wouldn't wander away. They locked me away so the cat wouldn't get me Ma said but it was still was in my room even when I was there." Fiona said through gritted teeth she gripped her fists tight as she spoke.
"I got so angry and chased it down the hallway one night, I tried to chase it away I was tired of it! Everything was that cat's fault! but I got lost again. A lady I thought was a nurse there. Said she'd take me back to my room. She was so nice." She paused looking down at her hands now sad and added ominously, "I still don't know where I am."
"That's what happened to Erin isn't it? You wanted to help her?" Fiona nodded fiercely
She inched closer on her knees and gripped at Patty's sleeve beseeching. "She was seein a little black dog. "Don't let her follow the dog anymore."
-
Covered in a thin sheen of frost and ash Holtzmann was flung back into awareness, or rather dropped into it with a literal thump to the ground. An unpleasant slightly sickening sensation of being picked up and quickly dropped back onto the floor. Landing hard on her hands and knees disoriented and out of breath.
Still in a daze of pure survival instinct Holtz skittered into a frantic crawl in attempt to flee whatever had been perusing her immediately meeting a wall. Holtz sputtered and scrambled away backing into a tower of boxes.
Small packs of salt rained down around her. It took a moment for her to realize where she was the memory of where she had been and what she had been hiding from melted into a fuzzy memory leaving her confused but relieved.
Holtz took a deep sigh and let herself teeter over onto the floor resting on her side. Closing her eyes she rested for a second just grateful for the quiet safe space. The silence wasn't really much of a relief from before, now the absence of sound left an ache in her ears that left a ringing of its own and the sensation of cold water lodged in her ears. But Holtz gladly accepted this silence.
Relaxing only for a moment before a brief flash banshee's face behind her eyelids roused her with a jolt. Like the lingerings of a bad nightmare, where every time you closed your eyes the dream continued. This fear set so deep this fear wasn't hers, it couldn't be hers. Like the sudden knowledge that this was a banshee and that it wanted her.
Holtz rolled onto her back and squinted at her wrist watch without really looking at it then patted at her belt for her walkie. The whole chunk of time missing was disheartening and left her with some questions. Like how did she end up alone in this room
"Guys?" Her voice wavering and gravely she cleared her throat and called again. "Guys you there?" Turning her head to look down across the room Holtz gave the room a quick look around. The room was small and filled with cardboard boxes stacked on top of each other there wasn't much else.
She could see the entrance from where she lay. Holtz tried the walkie again. "Breaker breaker so on and so forth." Holtzsighed giving up easily and let it drop onto the floor beside her. Finally crackled through the silence startling a little jump out of her. She reached back for it.
"Say again?"
"Holtz?!" It was Abby. "Holtzmann?" Her voice sounded muffled through the speaker. Holtz frowned down at the walkie giving it a little shake. She answered back.
"That's me."
"Oh thank god are you okay?"
"Yeah I think so." She answered prodding the sore spot on the bridge of her nose. "Been better. You?" Abby shot off a long stream of questions Holtz couldn't make out, her words sounding muffled and far away. First Holtz fiddled with the volume dial but when that didn't work she gave it a couple smacks. "Can you speak up a bit please? I'm not wearing my glasses."
"We're fine baby. Where are you?" Patty asked a little louder and much more direct.
"Uh..." Holtz hoisted herself back up to sitting and squinted in the dark. "I don't know hold the phone." Getting back on her hands and knees Holtz crawled carefully up to the front of room towards the door. "Boxes...some kind of storage area I think. Hallway...dark...cold."
"Alright I think I might know where you are. I'm coming to you." Abby huffed it sounded to Holtz like she was running or at least in more than a bit of a hurry. But she could stay put for a little bit she mused to herself. Scrubbing her face with her free hand. Flinching at the sharp stab of pain that shot up the bridge of her nose to behind her eye.
"Guys I think I broke my face." She whined into the walkie. "Someone come kiss and make better."
"Holtz." Abby muttered fondly back Holtz replying with a puppy-like whine. Holtz giggled ran through her hair and paused, shocked as her hands traveled down the length of a braid.
"What the hell...." Holtz trailed off clutching her hair in her hands. How had she not noticed that until now? Holtz raised the walkie again ready to have some words and demand some answers when she paused again. A cold spike of fear struck her clutching the braid tightly in her hands. A quick feeling there and gone again. "I have a feeling I missed something important. Care to explain me a thing?"
There was a pause before Abby responded.
"Is this about the braid?"
"Partly." Holtz sputtered switching the walkie from one hand to the other. "I admit that part is bizarre and disturbing and we will have words but why am I alone in a store room.....with a french braid."
"That's more of an in person conversation Holtzy. Trust me."
"Fine fine I'll find you where are you?" She asked while teetering to her feet, she felt oddly off balance. Someone had responded but Holtz didn't hear it. A cold chill rolled along the floor and rose around her. Holtz suddenly felt small and had the strong instinct to run and hide. Touching the back of her neck to staunch the chill only made it worse with the sudden realization that she was completely unarmed.
Shit.
As the room seemed to slowly freeze over. Settling in a thin sheen over her suit and crept into her lungs. Her ears popped painfully enough to have to sit on the ground again. 'Shes here' a voice in her head declared. The door to the storeroom slammed shut with an icy gust.
"Guys. I don't have any of my gear." She whispered to them. "And I'm not alone."
"I got it with me, I'll come find you. Just try to stay where you are."
"No problem there babes!"
Fighting dizziness Holtz crawled back towards the back of the room in the forest of boxes wishing she had any kind of gear with her, Erin still had her goggled and even her shoulder satchel was gone.
She flattened herself along the floor and waited for the shadow to pass over her. Holtz squeezed her eyes shut and held her breath. She wasn't much for the survival horror genre, the movies made her tense and the games even more so. Now she was at half HP and unarmed. Not fun.
Rising back into an army crawl Holtz skittered across the room ducking under the space under an empty desk covered in more boxes and she waited. Holtz pressed her hands against her nose and mouth in attempts to stifle any kind of noise that would tip off the ghost to her hiding place.
The ghost seemed to pass over her hidey hole without acknowledging her. How had that worked? Was this desk lined in lead? She mused giving the desk's underside an experimental knock anyways. In a slow creeping peek, Holtz peered up at the boxes on the desk and read the label on the side. A case of salt packets.
Looking out at the other box towers she had a sudden thought. Holtz crawled back out and headed towards the box she'd topped over earlier. Salt packets littering the floor. She squinted in the dark trying to read the other box's labels. More salt packets. Holtz gave a quick glance back at the stack on top of the table and connected the dots.
Holtz had an idea, primitive and mostly speculation at the this point but it wouldn't hurt. Holtz slowly formed a barricade of boxes in front of her pushing them to surround the desk. Shoving a few in her pockets for good measure and then ducked back under the desk. Hoping fort salt would at least set up some kind of defense to protect her long enough until she had her gear again.
Holtz patted her pockets for something, anything, normally she had at least one little doodad on her at all times, she tried her side pockets one last time shoving her hand in as deep as it would go through the salt packets and gasped hopefully as her fingertips graced something small and flat.
It was the pulse device shed taken off the wall earlier. She tried her other pocket in hopes and it did not disappoint. A small round object the size of ping pong ball with a little switch, one of her flash bangs. Smaller than the grenade but she liked the poof it produced, less damage. Erin seemed to appreciate that part.
"Oh hell yeah. Thank you Past Holtzmann, you always know what I need." She said happily blowing herself a kiss while she shifted her position and peered out from under the desk.
"Hey! you can't keep me cooped in here forever! If my parents couldn't keep me from breaking out of my room when I was fourteen what makes you think you can keep me here?!" A quick loud screeeeee reverberated through the room and left just as fast but it still left Holtz off kilter. Was I just scolded? "Right because I'm unarmed, so I should shut up."
The loud pulsating screech shot back into her ears again and Holtz cried out cringing into herself. Giving the flash bang a little peck for good luck she flipped the switch, and tossed it over head. With her ears covered and her face hidden in her knees,
Holtz felt the flash bang go off around her sending a force through the room momentarily clearing her ears and creating a pleasant silence.
The eerie sensation of being watched was also gone. There was a loud sound of a struggle outside and a hard pounding on the door. Soon a loud zap followed by a loud crash had the door swinging forcefully open. Holtz flattened herself into the corner of the desk holding her breath and keeping her face hidden. The sound of Abby swearing got her attention but still she didn't move even as she heard her footsteps near the desk.
"Holtz?" Abby called out tentatively but Holtz didn't answer. She called out again. "Holtzmann?" Holtz still didn't move or answer until Abby called out the dreaded. "Jillian Florence."
Holtz's eyes snapped open hard to glare at Abby shocked and offended at the use of her formal name.
"How dare you use the F word and on the job! Abigail Lauren."
"I had to make sure, sorry."
"Of what? No no, I have questions. Me first." She scooted out from under the desk a little and pointed to her head first the made a sweeping motion along the braid over her shoulder. "One. Who the hell? What the hell? When the Hell? Why the hell?"Abby blinked then looked like she was trying to hide a guilty smile. Holtz clutched her hair in her hands and pulled waiting for an explanation.
"That was four." Abby shrugged. "Ghost did it." Holtz blinked waiting for more details. "A ghost did do it. Seriously I have pictures." When Holtz didn't respond Abby shifted. "Lets just say you and Erin checked out for a while and your replacements redecorated while you were out."
It clicked almost instantly in her head Abby was trying to break it to her gently. She knew what Abby meant that she'd been possessed. And in a way she already knew, vague dreamlike memories of someone talking for her but couldn't remember anything else clearly.
"I didn't hurt anyone did I?"
"No no. Luckily we had harmless children this time."
"You call this harmless? She touched my hair and you let it happen."
"You got me there. But It was cute I couldn't help myself. Oh stop it's a good look."
"I feel dirty and betrayed." She sniffed crossing her arms and looking away. Abby patted her knee in good humor and reached for her walkie.
"I have acquired the Holtzmann. All is well."
"Great, baby on my way where you at?"
"Store room near the front, get this found her in a fort made of boxes of salt packets."
"Ingenuity at it's finest hang tight be there in a bit."
"You know you gotta let Erin know about this salt fort you got here, she’s going to be jazzed it worked out for you." It was true, Erin had initially brought up the theory involving salt but hadn't persued it much further after some casual dismissing from her and Abby. Now she felt a little bad.
Holtz made a face, noticing Erin hadn't entered the walkie conversation at all.
"Where's Erin?" Abby tensed "Abby where's Erin? Did something happen?"
"No no she's.....fine. She's with Patty." Abby answer was vague and that made her more nervous. Abby paused. "Patty is Fiona still with you?"
"Yeah, we're coming, she's got something to tell you."
"Cool." Abby hooked the walkie back onto her belt and turned back to Holtz.
"Who's Fiona?"
"The ghost the braided your hair." Holtz's face dropped and Abby added quickly. "Be nice she's only twelve." Wagging the antenna of the walkie in Holtz's face for emphasis. Holtz stuck her tongue out and Abby smiled, she seemed genuinely glad to see her, how long had she been out?
"You wanna come out from there hmmm?" She cooed at her like she was coaxing a cat out of hiding. Holtz played along by making paw swiping motion followed by cat sounds. "I got animal crackers." Abby scooted back and gave Holtz room to crawl out.
"These are for you." Abby said pulling out Holtz's glasses from her front pocket and handed them over. Then quickly produced a packet of animal crackers from the little pouch on her belt. Abby kept snacks with her at Patty's instance over the dangers of low blood sugar but it also came in handy in bribing Holtzmann into submission or to keep her from 'grazing' during during a bust. Too many times Holtz had taken a page out of Kevin's book and stealing snack or two from someones home or restaurants. Earlier it was with pretzels but the attention had been all on the mirror. Normally Erin was the one to scold her about it. "And I got your pack and satchel right here too."
"Bless your face." Holtz declared holding the bag of cookies to her chest with a fond expression.
"Speaking of faces, what happened to yours slugger?"
"Bar fight. Is it bad?"
"Nah you look tough. But you might wanna throw some ice on that later though."
Holtz nodded, she remembering snapping at Erin before over her concern over her hurting herself guilt. She suddenly really wanted to see her not just to apologize but just to see her, make sure she was safe. The banshee wanted her too, not on her watch. Holtz fidgeted with the bag for a moment, instead of opening them immediately like Abby expected, she rested them in her lap and leaned against Abby resting her head on her shoulder. Closing her eyes and relaxed in her best friends presence. It wasn't long until flashes of the banshee's face behind her eyelids startling her awake again.
"What? What is it?" Holtz cleared her throat and rubbed her eyes.
"Shouldn't have touched the thing..." She murmured to herself then shifted a little. "I feel like a missing a huge chunk of time. Like that time I basically lived off of monster and redbull for a week.
"Yeah you blacked out and I found you passed out under your workbench with notes all over your arms in sharpie."
"You know I still don't know what I was trying to get at with that. It was either something for the containment unit or a blender."
"Would you like a quick recount of the last two hours?"
"Yes please but after you show me the alleged crime scene pictures." Holtz pointed to her head. "Give em up."