The Grey Girl, The Van Tassel Murders

Henry and Alex were still trying to understand the note.

“What this means is that we have to find what was given to Amelia,” someone spoke.

The shock of yet another visitor sent Alex falling back across the couch in surprise. Henry had, likewise, jumped into the wall and was now partially obscured.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” Lewis apologized as he entered the room.

Alex continued to back away. “I know what you did,” he shouted at Lewis.

“Oh, come now,” Henry exclaimed. “Just as you knew what I did? Young man, you seem to have very poor information,” he continued as he extricated himself from the wall and reached to shake hands with Lewis.

“Not this time,” Alex argued. “The police reports are very clear. He murdered someone in the ’sixties then went on a rampage in the ’nineties or something, killing a bunch of people in the same psycho ward he’d been in for years.”

Lewis sighed as he shared a look with Henry. “I was there when the first man was killed, yes. Then years later I again happened to be there when his nephew died.” The strain of the memories caused a twitch in his eye. “After all the death I saw in the war, I guess it was one killing too many.” He walked to a chair and sat down.

“What are you?” Alex asked. He could not see through Lewis as he could Henry. He had shaken the man’s hand and felt solid flesh.

“I am neither here nor there. I am not alive nor am I dead,” Lewis explained.

“Ok, you can drop the cryptic nonsense. Just tell me what the hell is going on.” Alex was sick of not getting straight answers. “I mean, is it really that difficult to just come right out and say what you are?” He fought to keep his frustration in check. “Just say, ‘I am a ghost. Hello, I am a corpse possessed by the spirit of a man who has unfinished business on this plain.’” He huffed. “Seriously? Is it really that difficult?”

“No imagination, this one.” Lewis gestured to Alex. Henry could only nod in agreement. “Let me try to explain. The first time I encountered Henry, I was terrified. Which was his plan. He ran us out before Emily could attack.” Lewis chuckled at the memory. “The second time we were not so lucky. The boy came prepared … or so he thought. When Henry started trying to scare us away, I tried to get the fool to go, but he wouldn’t leave. I watched through the window as Henry gave up.”

“I begged him to leave. I warned him to go, but he wouldn’t listen,” Henry morosely confirmed, staring down at his feet.

“I saw Emily stab him over and over.” Lewis cringed at the memory.

“There was nothing I could do,” Henry whispered.

Lewis reached out to reassure his friend. “No, there wasn’t. I ran into the house, hoping to, I don’t know, help. I was too late. He was dead when I got to the room. I can still hear her awful laughing.” Lewis’ countenance darkened. “Then she appeared—Emily. She tormented me with visions and tortured me with magic. By the time I realized I was free, I had attacked a police officer, thinking it was one of her creatures.” Lewis starred off into the night as if watching the horrors for the first time. “I spent years in the institution. My only visitor was Henry, who, of course, only I could see. This did little to dissuade my doctors from thinking I was not quite sane.” He laughed to himself. “With nothing better to do, I spent much of my time learning about witches, magic, and ghosts. Henry would find books and materials for me to study. I was getting rather proficient at astral projection, as well as other magic. That was when she came back. Emily killed everyone in the ward and tried to kill me. Her plan had been to blame all the murders on me. I slipped out of my body to escape, but once my body was dead, I was trapped between existences. I ended up finding a poor soul whose body lived but whose spirit was gone. I took over his body.”

Alex shook his head in shock. “You stole someone’s body? Isn’t that what they want to do to Chloe?”

“Yes and no. I was able to leave my own, aged body right as Emily killed it. Without a vessel to return to, I had to find a new one. Your Chloe is something different. Her body came back. She has indeed returned. I assume Emily could do what I did, but she wants Chloe.”

“Why?” Alex asked.

“Chloe is something we’ve never seen or even heard of before. She was killed, and through whatever you did, she was able to return.” Lewis paused in thought. “Chloe is uniquely special.”

“Yes, she is,” Alex admitted. “But not because she came back. And I still don’t know why you did.”

“I have to help Henry. He has been my only friend for so long. I owe it to him. If I had listened to him in the first place, I never would have spent most of my life in an institution.”

“OK, say I believe any of this.” Alex shook his head in frustration.. “Actually, I don’t care.” His eyes were shut tightly. “All I want to know is how to get Chloe back. So if you know something, tell me what it is.”

Lewis smiled. “I have found out a few things. What you need to know is that Amelia took a trip to Salem, Massachusetts.