The Guest House Hauntings Boxset by Hazel Holmes (novel books to read txt) 📕

closed her eyes, her arms spread out at awkward angles, and all she wanted to do was sleep, to just melt into the earth where she lay. But she couldn’t.

Sarah stood and, like before, the farther she walked and the closer she drew herself to the town, the better she felt. Twice she stopped to check her waistline to see if the scales had started to spread and watched the frost blue shimmer beneath the moonlight.

“It’s getting worse.”

Sarah spun around, finding the redhead floating nearby. “I don’t have time for you.” She trudged forward, traveling through the maze of trees. She figured she was close to the house now that the redhead had returned.

“You’re running out of time,” the redhead replied, floating next to her.

“I know.” Sarah kept her tone short, but the frustration mounted, and she whirled on the ghost. “Where the hell have you been?” The redheaded girl cringed as she backed away. “Do you have any idea what’s happening? Pat’s dead!”

“I’m sorry.” The apparition lowered her head and turned away. “I was afraid to show you.”

Sarah stomped around to the girl’s left and saw what looked like tears running down her cheeks. But with the translucent nature of her body, the tears looked like crystals that sparkled in the darkness. Never had grief looked so beautiful.

The redhead wiped away the diamonds from her eyes and straightened her posture. “It’s time for you to see.”

“See what?”

“To see why this all started.”

Sarah frowned, and then that familiar tug yanked at her waist, and the world around her went dark. The floating sensation returned, and after a moment, Sarah blinked, her surroundings transformed back to the same room and time she had been in before.

But this time, after Sarah dropped to her knees and cradled her head, a cramp formed in the pit of her stomach. “What’s… happening?”

Redhead appeared through the floor beneath Sarah’s face and stared straight into her eyes. “The spirit’s control over you is growing.” She pointed to the leg on which the scales had crawled up past her waist and onto her stomach. “It can feel you getting closer.”

Slowly, Sarah lowered her hands and stood, trying to focus on anything but the splitting pain running down the center of her skull. “Christ.” A few deep breaths and the sickness became more manageable.

When Sarah felt a little better, she found the redhead at the door and then followed her upstairs, doing her best to stay upright on the upward spiral path.

“I won’t be able to go inside with you once we’re upstairs,” the ghost said, keeping a few feet of distance between the two of them.

“Why?” Sarah asked, reaching for the rail as another bout of dizziness struck her. When her hand went straight through the wood, she nearly tumbled downward before quickly correcting herself.

Redhead frowned. “It’s like the door is locked, and whatever… Happened inside—” She stopped abruptly and then turned around. “The thing that killed me, it doesn’t want me to see it. And since I’m living in its house, I’m forced to follow its rules.”

Once the pair passed through the door on the fifth floor, Redhead allowed Sarah to walk ahead, and when they reached the halfway point, she stopped completely. Sarah looked back at the girl, whose gaze was locked on the door at the end of the hall.

“You don’t have to listen to it,” Sarah said. “It doesn’t have to control everything you do.”

Redhead’s mouth went slack, and she gently shook her head. “No, whatever’s on the other side of that door—” She swallowed. “I just can’t see.”

Sarah stepped closer. “Show it that you’re not afraid. Show it that it can’t frighten you.”

The sunlight breaking through the window at the end of the hall dimmed, and Redhead floated backward, shaking her head. “I’m sorry, Sarah.” Her voice trembled with fear, and she looked at Sarah one last time before disappearing through the door. “Good luck.”

And just like that, she was gone, leaving Sarah alone in the hallway. She turned to face the end of the hall, the light fading as if it were being sucked from the sky itself.

The darkness swallowed shadows from the furniture and paintings as Sarah neared the door. She reached out her hand and her heart hammered in her chest. The closer she drew to crossing the barrier, the louder the noises grew on the other side.

They were muffled at first, but then they started to sound like sobbing, and just before her face went through the door, she was greeted with a shrieking cry of pain.

“AHHHHH!”

It was the redhead, except she was in bed, sheets up to her chest and wearing the nightgown that Sarah had seen her floating around in. And much like the ghost’s, her living cheeks were a pale white, the color gone from her lips. But her hair was even more striking in person, the red so vibrant against the white of her skin and nightgown that it looked to be on fire.

Two people were in the room with her, a man on the left side of the bed and a woman on the right. At first glance, Sarah would have thought it was the girl’s mother and father, but then the man removed a stethoscope from a briefcase, and she noticed the long white coat. He was a doctor.

“Mary, you need to keep still,” the doctor said.

But the expressions of pain etched on redheaded woman’s face shifted and squirmed with the rest of her.

“Keep her still!” The doctor barked the order across the bed to the woman, who sprang into action, grabbing the girl by the shoulders and pinning her back into the pillows.

“Mamma, make it stop!” Redhead—Mary—screamed, bucking her hips up and kicking her legs while her mother kept her upper body pinned to the sheets.

“We’re trying, but you have to try and keep still!” The mother had a frantic anger to her words, the struggle of trying to maintain empathy while giving orders. And Sarah couldn’t help but notice how