As we ate our food, my gaze wandered over to Sharon. She was still acting out of character. She seemed jumpier and more scared than usual; every little sound grabbed her attention. It made me wonder if they had encountered something paranormal in the house. She kept her gaze mostly in her lap, looking up occasionally.
The room's silence as we ate felt unnervingly oppressive, broken suddenly by the thunderous crash of a metal pan tumbling in the hallway. The deafening noise startled everyone, but Sharon was hit hardest—she leapt so high her body nearly collided with Andy's lap, her eyes wide with terror. I have a strong feeling that the house's unsettling influence affected them in a similar way to how it affected Zeke and me.
"Wow, that scared the crap out of me," Zeke laughed.
"What was that?" Donovan questioned as he got up and moved toward my door. He cautiously opened it and peeked into the hallway, seeing a nurse picking up the metal pan and apologizing to everyone who had poked their heads out.
Andy wrapped his arm around Sharon and drew her close, whispering reassuring words in her ear. He seemed to be comforting her, assuring her that everything was okay. It was touching to see him look after her. Curious about her distress, I subtly glanced at Zeke, silently encouraging him to find out what had happened.
"Is everything okay? Did something happen at the house?" Zeke asked with concern. I moved from my bed over to a chair near Andy, eagerly awaiting his answer. He looks at Sharon, and she nods as if giving him approval. Taking a deep breath, he grabs my hand with his free one. Just by his body language, whatever he was about to say couldn't be good. It seemed like all we received was a brief burst of happy news, followed by an overwhelming flood of bad news. There was no in between.
"We bumped into my father as he was dropping Ted off at his house," he says, irritated not at me but at the sheriff. Donovan and Zeke looked at each other in disbelief, then anger quickly took over their features.
"What did you say?" Zeke and Donovan asked at the same time.
"As I mentioned, Ted is at home instead of in jail, where he should be. Apparently, good old dad managed to secure a plea deal for him," Andy says with apparent disgust in his voice. "If he pleads guilty to assault and becomes an informant on your family's unsolved case, he'll get a lighter sentence." He looked at me with an apologetic expression. I knew he felt guilty because the sheriff was his father, my grandfather. However, it wasn't his fault; it was his father's. It's hard to believe my father came from such an evil man, as he was completely different from the sheriff in every way. The sheriff enjoyed asserting his authority and forcing his will on those he considered inferior.
"How can they let him go home when he lives so close to us. How does that make sense? He shouldn't be allowed to be anywhere near our house." Zeke was pissed and rightly so. The sheriff's department had repeatedly let us down and failed to protect us.
"I agree, he shouldn't be allowed that close to his victim. They should have at least put a ankle monitor on him. Instead of getting what he deserves, he will only be charged with a misdemeanor and not a felony," Andy explained. He squeezed my hand as tears ran down my cheeks. Most of the time, I tried to be tough and not show weakness, but I was just tired, emotionally and physically. It felt like everything was stacked against us.
Donovan had tried to persuade me to leave the house until the case was solved, but there was no way that was going to happen. The house was like a family member to me; I couldn't just abandon it. Even as we sat in the room, my whole body screamed for me to go home. My life was tethered to that place. Explaining this to anyone was pointless; they didn't understand the pull it had on me. Sharon looked over to me, finally, and gave a small smile. Andy looked over to her, and she nodded at him as if giving permission to tell us something.
"Honey, tell her what happened at the house," she says softly. He looks over at Andy, as if giving permission, and nods at him to go ahead.
"I know you mentioned strange things happening to you and Zeke before, but I never truly believed you until today." Then it hits me – they experienced some of the same paranormal events we did. "While Sharon was in your room retrieving the laptop and other items, I was making sure everything was locked securely. As I was finishing checking the window in the kitchen, a blood-curdling scream came from the living room. It scared me to death, I thought Sharon had gotten hurt because it was a woman's scream, and I went running to the entryway."
"It was so loud it startled me upstairs," Sharon says. "Quickly dropping everything on the bed, I ran to the top of the stairs. The only person there was Any, standing at the bottom of the entryway, looking up at me, confused. I quickly ran back in the room and threw everything in the bag, including the paperwork, and ran down the stairs towards him."
"Seeing her upstairs confused me; I could have sworn it was her in the living room. So I asked her Weren't you just in the living room?' and she told me no, she had been upstairs this whole time. We quietly approached the living room and looked inside, but it was completely dark. Instantly reaching for the light switch, my hand stopped midway because all the doors started opening and banging shut. Except for the front door. As if the house was protesting our presence in it without you." As Andy told the story, he seemed in disbelief at what they had witnessed. It had obviously affected Sharon more than him.
"That's not the only thing that happened," Sharon added. She seemed to open up as she recited the last little bit of information. "While we were sitting in the car, staring at the house and trying to understand what had just happened, the lights suddenly illuminated brightly for about thirty seconds before turning off again, leaving the house in pitch blackness. The security lights outside even shut off. It was the weirdest and scariest thing we had ever encountered," Sharon described. She was trembling as she recounted the details, clearly more affected by these events than Ted's release from jail. I don't blame her; encountering the paranormal for the first time was frightening. We had actually thought the activity had calmed down because we hadn't experienced anything in quite a while.
"It is very unsettling," Zeke agrees with them, sympathizing. "We didn't know what to do the first time that happened to us. It made us feel like we were losing our minds."
"Are you all trying to say our family home is haunted?" Donovan chimes in, obviously having a hard time believing what he was hearing. At the moment, a knock lands on my door.
"Come in," Donovan says loudly. My doctor walks in and smiles at us all gathered together. He motions for me to come back to the bed. As I sit down, he starts to feel around my throat for swelling and asks how bad the pain is. It was tolerable as long as I didn't try to talk too much.
"Well, Miss Sleighton, all of your tests came back fine. The swelling on your neck has gone down, and the bruising will be there for a while. It will slowly change colors from black and blue to a yellowish color. That's normal during healing. We are ready to discharge you tomorrow, provided no complications arise, and as long as you come to your follow-up appointments," The doctor explained. I smiled brightly at him, ready to leave and go home. He looked around at my loved ones and asked, "Do you have any questions?"
"How long before she will be able to talk?" Zeke asked.
"That just depends on how fast her vocal cords recover. You can try to talk each day. If it's still too painful, don't overdo it." The doctor bid us goodbye and left. I was happy and scared to go home tomorrow. Scared about Ted and glad to be back in my house. That night, after everyone had left except Zeke, I pulled out my laptop and typed two documents. One describing the events of what happened with Ted, what I remembered of it anyway, and the other was about my dream. Zeke was lying on the small couch in the room, watching TV, and dozing off. He looked uncomfortable; his legs hung over the edge. It made me sad to think he would be cramped on it and be in pain the next day. I started waving my arms in his direction, hoping that he would notice, but he was oblivious. The only thing I could do was try to call him.
"Zeke," my voice rasped. It was weird because it sounded so foreign to me. His head slowly turned in my direction. I motioned for him to come over. He hesitated for a minute and then walked to me.
"What's wrong, sweetheart? Do you need a doctor?" The concern in his voice was evident. I shook my head no to his question and patted the bed beside me. Scooting over, he lay on the bed with me. I rested my head on his chest. "Do you want me to lie here with you?" he asked.
Shaking my head yes against his chest made him chuckle. We fit snugly together in the bed, and both fell asleep quickly. It made me feel safer having him close to me. I could hear the nurses come in throughout the night to check on us and giggle at the sight of this big man in bed with me. When we finally woke the next day, we had an audience standing in the room. Andy, Sharon, and Donovan were all smiling at us. Zeke slowly extracted himself from the bed, smiling sheepishly, and headed for the bathroom with his bag. He showered and got dressed quickly as I awkwardly stared back at everyone.
Soon after, the doctor entered with my discharge papers and care instructions, reviewing them with me and everyone present. About thirty minutes later, we all packed into Sharon and Andy's SUV to return home. It never occurred to me that Zeke had ridden in the ambulance with me that day, mostly because I was unconscious. I had assumed he followed the ambulance to the hospital. Thankfully, Andy and Sharon had no problem driving us home; they had even been transporting Uncle Donovan back and forth. When we stepped outside, I breathed in deeply. It was a relief to get some fresh air and escape the hospital's antiseptic smell. The ride home felt like it took forever, but in reality, it was only twenty minutes.
As we pulled into the driveway, we noticed Sheriff Dawson's car parked in Ted's driveway. At first, it appeared they weren't outside, until we stepped out of the car. Both of them were standing on Ted's porch, engaged in a heated discussion. It felt like déjà vu. I had seen them not long after we first moved in, just as I was seeing them now. Andy looked pissed to see his dad standing beside my attacker. It didn't shock or upset me because he had already shown his true colors. There was no love lost between us; he was no grandfather to me.
"What is he up to?" Andy voiced out loud. His anger was palpable.
"Rocky, go inside with Sharon. We need to talk to Dawson," Zeke ordered me.