Hannah finished packing her small overnight bag. Nick walked into the doorway of her room, “Lunch is ready.” He smiled at her with affection.
“Thanks, Nick, I’m coming.” She smiled at him with the same smile, as if to say, “I like you too.”
It had been three days since the incident. No one had any further experiences, but no one was looking out the windows at night. Margaret was too scared to look, Matt was on pain pills at bedtime, the girls took valium to keep from having nightmares, and Nick was worn out from helping Margaret take care of everyone. Besides, Margaret made sure the blinds and drapes were pulled shut before it was completely dark outside. No one heard the music or saw the recurring bright light that floated on the walkway of the boathouse and then floated up to LeAnn’s window.
Mrs. Weston, Matt, and Nick had done a good job of distracting the girls from talking about what had happened. Whenever they tried to think about what happened, they started shaking and crying.
Matt, LeAnn, and Ben Weston were sitting on the deck waiting for Nick and Hannah. Margaret Weston had fixed chicken salad for lunch and placed the bowl on the table.
Within a couple of minutes, Nick and Hannah joined them. They all sat around table eating their lunch and admiring the wonderful weather. They all knew the warm days were numbered and winter would soon show up.
Mr. Weston had come out that morning to pick everyone up, especially his wife. She was greatly missed in kitchen at the resort, and he needed Matt and Nick back too. It was Ben Weston who brought up the subject everyone had been avoiding. “So girls. Are you ready to tell us what happened the other day?”
“Dad!” shouted Matt.
“Matt, it’s okay,” LeAnn took his good hand. “Hannah and I have been talking, and we think we remember most of it. We’re ready to talk about it. We feel you should know. Besides, it would help us to get it out in the open. We also feel you may not believe us and think we are utterly nuts.”
LeAnn looked at Hannah, who nodded. They smiled at each other, and Hannah grabbed LeAnn’s hand.
“Okay, here goes. Hannah, if I leave anything out jump right in.” LeAnn started. She took a deep breath before she started their terrifying story.
“Well, you all know that Hannah was staying with me overnight. She said she wanted to go in the boathouse to see the ballroom. What Hannah didn’t know was that I had a couple of frightening experiences in the ballroom, as Matt knows, and so I really didn’t want to take her there. I couldn’t explain what had happened to me, so I kept it to myself. One thing I knew was it wasn’t my imagination.”
Matt looked down at the table feeling guilty.
LeAnn went on, “I finally agreed to take her to the boathouse, thinking that since Hannah was with me, whatever had happened before wouldn’t happen again. The two incidents I had were when I was by myself. When we got there, the door was locked.
“I had been in there just a few days before and was locked in and terrorized by whatever it is in there. When I ran out of the boathouse, I never relocked the door, so to find it locked scared me right off. Of course, Hannah didn’t know this. I unlocked the door and we went in. Everything was fine, so I thought.”
LeAnn looked at their expressions, but didn’t think anyone believed her story, except for Hannah and Matt’s mom. Matt was looking down at the table.
She continued. “I really thought that if I was there, in the daylight, with someone, everything would be fine. I was wrong. We weren’t in there very long when the music started.” Looking out at the lake, she murmured, “That damn music.”
Hannah said, “I couldn’t understand why there was music since we hadn’t turned on a stereo or anything. It was a beautiful tune, in the beginning, but then it got so incredibly loud. I thought my eardrums were going to burst. It just kept getting louder and louder! I didn’t think it was so pretty anymore. Hannah stopped as she tried to remember something. No one spoke, she looked at LeAnn, and then exclaimed, “Oh God, LeAnn, it touched me! It touched me and whispered in my ear!” Hannah grabbed at her neck and started to cry. Nick was sitting on her other side and held on to her as she sobbed into his shoulder.
LeAnn continued their story. “I had been through this already but, as I said before, Hannah didn’t know it. No one did. When I saw Hannah grab her neck, I knew she had just been touched by….it and I just….” she paused looking for the right words. “I just froze. I couldn’t move. I knew what it felt like. I knew what would happen next, the wind. The powerful wind from nowhere. The wind that kept us from being able to stand up and walk! I knew that the doors would all be locked and that we wouldn’t get out! Hannah was screaming at me to help! I couldn’t! I knew there would be nothing we could do. The only difference from the other times was the black mist on the stage. I never had seen the mist before. It was….angry. At this point LeAnn’s voice was getting higher and too excited. Matt was starting to worry.
“The whisper? The mist?” Matt’s mother asked wide eyed. “What did it say?”
Hannah answered, “I couldn’t understand what it said. It sounded like one word but I couldn’t make it out. All I know is I could feel a breath on my neck like fingers! It was horrible!” She stopped, took a deep breath, “I looked towards the stage, and there was like a small shadow growing, only it turned into a thickening black mist that not only grew but swirled. It was weird. It swirled like a tornado,” Hannah stopped talking abruptly. Her heart started beating faster as she said, “Why couldn’t we get out? The wind—the wind kept knocking us down, and we couldn’t hear each other. We were locked in! I remembered I wanted out and I wanted to go home. I wanted out!”
Nick put his arm around her again. Hannah sobbed.
“Hannah ended up in the middle of the ballroom floor and couldn’t get up.” LeAnn took over the story from here. “I knew I had to get us out. I went from door to door but they wouldn’t open. Hannah and I even tried to kick the windows out but they wouldn’t break! They just wouldn’t break! It was so strange! Do you know how old those windows must be? They should have broken so easily! It wouldn’t let us out!” yelling hysterically. “It wouldn’t let us out!”
“That’s enough,” Matt said wrapping his arms around LeAnn, “Enough.” He was afraid he was going to have to call Dr. Lyons
“Who wouldn’t let you out?” Matt’s father asked.
LeAnn slowly turned her head toward Ben. She looked at him as if he had asked the dumbest question in the world. She responded, with a cynical smile, “The angry spirit that lives in my boathouse.”
Ben could only stare at her in disbelief.
Then Nick asked, puzzled, “How do you know it was an angry spirit?”
LeAnn gave him the same haunting, eerie smile she had given Hannah in the boathouse, “From his howling.”
Margaret felt a chill go up her spine. Then she thought about the floating light she had seen.
“His howling?” Nick was shocked by what he was hearing. This only happens in movies.
“The howling was horrible. I will never forget it!” Hannah exclaimed, frightened.
Nick held her closer.
LeAnn went on. “It sounded as if it was in agony, but there was also intense anger in the howling. The more it howled the darker the black mist and the stronger the wind got. It definitely was coming towards us. When Matt arrived, it was on the ceiling above us. I felt I was looking at a black thundercloud, but this one was spinning and rolling and getting thicker by the minute, and it…” she paused a moment. “It howled over and over. I felt it was going to come down and crush us!”
“LeAnn, stop. Enough!” Matt could feel her shaking in his arms.
Tears were streaming down LeAnn’s cheeks, “If Matt hadn’t come when he did, I really feel that Hannah and I would have died.” Then she looked at Matt, “Can a ghost kill?” LeAnn felt exhausted.
Hannah just nodded her head crying.
No one said anything. The only sound was the loons on the lake calling to each other.
Hannah and LeAnn just looked at everyone. Matt looked at LeAnn, reached over and hugged her as if he never wanted to let her go. LeAnn was crying.
“I believe you girls.” It was Margaret said breaking the silence. “I truly think that something horrible happened to you out there. I don’t know what, but if that floating light had anything to do with it, it had to be awful!”
Quiet again, no one quite knew what to say. Even Ben was speechless.
In a small voice, Hannah said, “I want to go home. Please, will someone take me home?” Tears still running down her cheeks, she looked up at Nick.
Nick took her hand, “I will.” She smiled at him with thankfulness. Then he looked at Matt’s Mom and asked, “Are you ready too?”
“I am.” Margaret said with mixed emotions. She wanted off this island, but she didn’t like leaving her son and LeAnn here alone. She looked at her son. “Matt, I need to get back just for today, then I’ll come back” She knew that she was lying to her son. In his heart he knew it too. She never wanted to come back unless her husband was with her or someone explained what she had seen.
The bags had been brought down earlier and were waiting by the front door.
Margaret was first on the porch, followed by her son. She turned to look at him and said, “I want you to be very careful out here. Understand? No heroics,” she said, her voice serious.
Matt hugged his mom, “It’s okay. We’re not going near that boathouse, I promise. I’m especially not going to let LeAnn go out there again.”
Margaret looked at him, “Good. It’s an evil place, Matthew, I can feel it. Take care of your hand.” She kissed her only son on the cheek, and turned and waited for Nick. Hannah and LeAnn came out arm in arm.
“I wish you wouldn’t go,” LeAnn said sadly to her new friend.
“I know. I wish I didn’t have to, but LeAnn, I can’t stay here any longer. This place scares me.” Then she had a thought, “Why don’t you come and stay with me for awhile? I think getting away would do you good. I don’t think you should stay here. There’s something angry and evil out here, LeAnn. I really feel it’s not safe. Please come and stay with me.”
Smiling and shaking her head, LeAnn replied, “You know I can’t, but thank you for the invite. Besides, I have Matt with me,” she said as Matt walked over and put his uninjured arm around her waist.
“Don’t worry, Hannah. She’s in good hands.” He looked at LeAnn with a loving smile.
“You mean good hand, don’t you?” Hannah laughed looking at his injured hand.
“Ha-ha. Very funny,” he said as they all giggled at her corny joke. Laughing felt good.
Ben clapped his son on his back and said, “Take it easy, son, and be careful. Don’t worry about getting back to the resort any time soon. Can’t use you until your hand heals anyway.”
“I’ll be seeing the doctor in a few days to get my stitches out, and we’ll know better then when I can come back to work. At least you’ll have Nick there.”
“Right,” his dad said and hugged his son. He looked at Matt as if he wanted to say something else, but didn’t. Then, he walked with his wife down the path to the waiting boat.
Matt gave Nick a pat on the back, “Nick, I can never thank you enough for all you’ve done.”
“You don’t have to thank me. Just don’t ask me to help clean out attics again!”
They both laughed. It felt like months ago they came to the island to help LeAnn bring the trunks out of the attic, instead of just three days.
The Weston’s were already waiting down by the boat. Nick was having a hard time getting Hannah to walk past the boathouse. Hannah looked at the boathouse and froze. She wouldn’t move. Nick stood between her and the boathouse. “Hannah, I’m here. There is nothing that is going to hurt you. Come on, I’ll keep you safe.” Nick pulled Hannah to the boat. She couldn’t take her eyes off the boathouse and started to tremble. Nick put his face directly in front of hers and made her look at him. “Just keep your eyes on mine. Don’t look at anything else, just at me.” Nick led her to the waiting boat keeping her gaze on his face.
Once they made it to the boat, Margaret grabbed Hannah’s hand and helped her into the boat. Ben untied the boat, Nick started the motor, and they headed for Ridgewood’s.
Matt and LeAnn waved and watched as the boat headed toward the resort. Matt did notice that LeAnn was staring at the boathouse.
“LeAnn, honey, let’s go back inside.” Matt took her arm and tried to lead her back to the house, but couldn’t get her to move. She just stared at the boathouse, not talking, not responding, not anything.
Her thoughts were of the black mist. What could be that angry and in so much agony at the same time? Had it really meant to hurt us?
“LeAnn!” Matt yelled. He felt he had to get her back in the present time.
She looked at him dazed not even noticing he had raised his voice. “Matt?”
“Yes, honey, it’s me. Let’s go in the house. Okay?”
She just stared at him blankly as he led her back to the house.
Matt thought to himself, Mom, I wish you hadn’t left.