Chapter Eight: Back to Basics

            I need to slow down on the big creatures for now. I have a little too much heat on me and it seems the deeper I get in the more I risk. I want to stop these things but I won’t allow it make me lose my daughter. So I go back to hunting some ghosts. I had nowhere to start so I used the internet to check local haunts. That’s when I find the Bachelor’s Grove Crematory.

Orbs and even phantom travelers have been report there. Orbs were floating lights that were supposes to be signs of a ghost being near. Phantom travelers were ghosts that were attracted to a certain vehicle of some sort. Many people have seen multiple figures walking throughout the cemetery dressed in monk's robes. But the worst part was people even saw a black dog at the cemetery's entrance. Black Dogs portent of death normally. I really hope there is none of those there.

I decide to go there to see if I can find something to hunt. I learn and make an EVP meter. EVP is electronic voice phenomena are electronically generated noises that resemble speech, but are not the result of intentional voice recordings or renderings, and they can pick up a ghost’s signatures.

I pack my back with my new EVP meter, salt, lighter, lighter fluid, tire iron and my gun. I travel a long time to get to the crematory. I do have to be back home at a decent time, because I have to pick up Lilly in the afternoon.

I arrive at Bachelor’s Grove Crematory. Not a soul is here. I get out of my car and start looking for the soulless creatures that may haunt this area. I walk around for a bit and I keep thinking to myself that this is a bad idea. For one, if I get attacked by ghosts how I wouldn’t know which grave the ghost belonged to. I mean I did look at the residents here and looked for the most violent of deaths. So I knew a few people’s face but not enough. I turn on my EVP meter and it goes insane. I continue to walk around for about an hour.

I decide to leave because there is nothing here and I’m just mad at myself for lack of research and wasting my precious gas money. I head back to the car when I see it. There were orbs floating all over the field. It’s almost beautiful.  I walk up to one then it disappears. My eyes focus into the forest line and that’s when I saw all of them. A wall of dark figures standing there and directly staring at me. This was a terrible idea. I turn around and see two glowing eyes in the distance. They get closer to me till they reveal themselves by a low street light; they belong to a black dog.

I stand there stunned. I look at the dark fur and the jagged bloody teeth. I do the next thing my brain thinks of doing. I run. I run to my car and I almost drop my bag. I don’t look back. I get to my car and quickly get inside. I turn it on and speed off. I look back in the mirror to see the graveyard empty once again. It was like I was never there. I don’t think I will ever want to go here again.

A few hours later I make it home. I unpack my bag and get a few hours of sleep. The alarm goes off and I get up. I get ready to go pick up my daughter. After a short drive I get there. I get out of my car and walk up to my old house when I was married. I knock on the door. Lauren answer.

“Hi”, she goes to me and hugs me.

“Hello.” I grateful accept the hug; I still kind of miss her touch.

 “Lilly is almost ready for the day you have planned. You look tired, long night?”

“Yeah, you know my work.”

“I sure do.”

Lilly runs up and hugs me. I grab her hand and about to lead her away. Lauren stops her and kisses her on the check. Lauren turns to me.

“So you will have her back by eight?”

“Can I make it ten?”

“Colt, she has school tomorrow.”

Both I and Lilly say in our cutest voices, “Please.”

“Fine. I never win this game.” Lauren throws up here hands and walks inside closing the door behind her.

Lilly smiles at me and ask.

“What are we doing today?”

“I thought we would go to the zoo with Aunt Michelle.”

“Yay.”

We all go to the zoo, and it’s pretty uneventful. I take Lilly home and I do it fast because I’m near being late. I ask her about the day.

“So did you have a good time?”

“Yes, thank you.”

“What was your animal?”

“The dog.”

“You mean the wolves?”

“No the big black dog.”

I stop and pull over the car. And ask a really important question to her.

“Where was it?”

“Walking around the outside of the fence.”

“When?”

“When you were in the bathroom.”

I missed it. It must have followed me from the graveyard. And now it’s near my family. I think it’s time to stop doing these things.

I drive Lilly home and drop her off ten minutes late. Lauren actually for once doesn’t chew me out. Ever since our exchange on Lilly’s birthday, things have been easy between us. I quickly say goodbye and get home. I do more black dog research. There is no way to kill it. And normally if someone sees it means someone will die close to you, and a lot of time the ones who see it are the ones who will die.

Reviews

[TKBickel]

Oh yea the spook factor pinged high.
I can’t find to much too pick on. Watch your words, like cheek instead of check.
If you want to smooth out the relationship with Lauren, how about ‘I gratefully accept the hug; feeling the familiar comfort of her touch I still seem to miss.’
Otherwise, still a nice flow of a very interesting story.

[Blue Moon Ice Cream]

It seems unrealistic that things would have been 'easy' between Colt and Lauren after Lilly's birthday...more like more awkward, in my opinion. Also, what does Lauren appear to be thinking and what is Colt thinking during their conversation? Their relationship has become more complicated but their conversation sounds like nothing ever happened between them. Nice twist with the dog following Colt home. Again, at the beginning especially, check your verb tenses.