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

and told you that you weren’t worth the time, those are the people you’re helping right now. Those are the individuals you’re saving. And why? They hurt you, cast you out, amplified the pain and loss of a little girl who couldn’t defend herself.”

A few more scales appeared on her neck, inching toward Sarah’s throat, and she started to feel the last of her resolve slip away. The witch’s words were stoking the flames of hate and resentment in Sarah’s own heart. It was a fire that had always been there, and though she had tried to douse it with hope and love over the years, it was too strong to die.

“I can feel it,” the witch said, her tone laced with sympathy and longing. “I see all of your pain and confusion, and I’m here to tell you that it’s fine to let go. That’s all he wants. He wants to release you from the heartache that no one else has been able to ease. He wants to cradle you in the warming embrace of a father. Touch with the gentle caress of a mother.”

Three more scales appeared, and the blue in Sarah’s eyes started to fade, and her striking blonde hair greyed.

The witch shut her eyes, her lips pressed against Sarah’s ear now. “Just. Give. In.”

Sarah screamed, that fiery pit of hatred blazing to life in a horrible nightmare of pain. The control had slipped away. And she couldn’t fight the flames anymore. She couldn’t fight the hate. She couldn’t ignore the pain.

The witch was right. Why should she struggle to save lives in a world that had never cared anything for her? Why should she try and save the souls of people who never paid her any mind or helped her when she cried for help. She’d always been on her own. And it was time for the rest of the world to feel what she’d gone through her whole life.

But then she felt something. It was like a cool summer breeze after finding a shady spot in the grass in the park. She turned her head toward the door, looking past Iris, who stood there with a twisted expression of pain and excitement on her face. Her features had grown exaggerated, and she looked to have aged another twenty years in the past minute they’d been in the room.

But past Iris and the door was the source of the breeze. A ray of light penetrated the dark shroud that had encompassed her body, mind, and soul. It was someone she knew. One of those souls out of millions that was coming for her. And then she felt him.

“Dell.” She whispered his name in her mind, and the hate and pain started to fade. She remembered meeting him, remembered the touch of his hand and the warmth of his smile. She had liked him. And he had made her a promise. A promise that she let herself believe would not be broken because of the man that had given it.

She felt him close, in the house, coming for her. All she had to do was hold on now. All she had to do was keep the faith that she’d survive and that the pain would end. Because there was light at the end of the tunnel, but it was still far away. So Sarah shut her eyes, returning to her fight against the cold darkness spreading over her soul, and tried to hang on for just a little bit longer.

Dell reached the fifth floor, his breathing still wild and uncontrollable, and the door slammed shut. He grabbed the handle, finding it locked. He shoulder checked the door, the screams louder and more frightening than before.

“Sarah!” He pounded on the door, and sweat poured off him in buckets. Heat penetrated the wood of the door. It was as if the house had caught fire, but there were no flames.

Dell stepped back, aimed the shotgun at the doorknob, and squeezed the trigger. The slug blasted through the door, leaving a hole in the doorknob’s space. The recoil of the blast knocked the butt of the shotgun hard against Dell’s shoulder. When he pushed the door open moments later, it was like opening the door of an oven that had been turned all the way up to broil.

Dell turned his face away, the heat so strong it felt as if his skin was melting off his face. But he pressed forward.

The screams grew louder and stronger at the other end of the hall, and Dell staggered toward the door, all the while the heat growing hotter and hotter. “Christ.” The weapon’s stock burst into flames, and Dell was forced to drop it to the ground. His eyes widened in terror as the flames were quickly snuffed out and the metal of the barrel melted to the floor.

Another scream brought Dell’s attention back toward the door at the end of the hall. “Sarah.” He stumbled forward, the soles of his shoes melting toward the floor, and he was forced to abandon them and walk barefoot.

Pain and heat and exhaustion clouded Dell’s senses, and his concentration waned. He couldn’t think anymore. He couldn’t remember why he’d even come up here, and he couldn’t remember who he was trying to save.

Slowly, his thoughts turned to his own survival. He wanted to leave. It was as if the heat had gotten inside of him, where it was trapped and burning him from the inside out.

“Help me.”

The voice penetrated the screams and the heat and his doubts, and Dell turned back toward the door. He knew that voice. “Sarah.” Dell pushed forward, his body growing heavy, as if the gravity of the house had increased and was trying to push him through the floor.

His very will was being stripped from him with every step, but Sarah’s voice fueled his drive. He could hear the pain in her voice and what remained of her hope beginning to fade. She couldn’t hold on much longer.

Dell