Fan Fiction ❯ ShadowBaby ❯ Strange Encounter ( Chapter 8 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Sirens trailed down the quiet bustling Gay Street. The sirens finally found its destination as it came across the elegant looking hotel. Many people surrounded the hotel to see what was going on. An ambulance was the first to pull up, followed by a cop car. The paramedics rushed inside the hotel and ran over to the scene that had called for them.
A young receptionist was laying unconscious by the stairway. She was not responding to anything and it seemed like her body went into total shock. Once tan skin was now a deadly snow white. Her eyes were dazed and her lips were blue.
“Get back,” one of the paramedics yelled.
“She went into shock,” another one yells.
The two paramedics placed her on a stretcher and loaded her up into the back of their ambulance. Then they drove off and headed back to the hospital.
Anna was sitting on the stares. A horrified look was on her face. ‘He…’ she thought, ‘he really did that? I thought he said…’
John appeared out of nowhere. “What did I miss,” he asked with a smirk.
Anna glared at him with resentment. “You killed her,” she growled.
“No,” he stated, “I merely put her in a state of shock. Her body couldn’t handle my psychic energy and, even though I only possessed her for three minutes, I drained her life force dramatically. Don’t worry though. After a few days of rest she’ll recover.”
Anna didn’t believe it though. “Murderer,” she growled as she walked back up the stairs into her room.
“And don’t you forget it,” John whispered as he soon joined her in her bedroom.
When John finally decided she had rested enough he said that it was time to leave. Anna refused at first saying she wasn’t leaving until she had a nice long hot shower to clear her head. John and her argued over it and after a few minutes John broke down and said fine.
“Fine,” he shouted, “go and have your stupid shower.”
“I will,” Anna shouted as she stormed off into the bathroom.
Earl and Andrea had watched the whole thing.
“My, my,” Andrea said, “what a pointless argument.”
John glared over at her and yelled, “Shut up Andrea. I don’t remember asking for your opinion.”
“Forgive me my lord,” she apologized as she exited the room.
“The little lady’s right though,” Earl stated, “them there females like to freshen themselves up before they attend anything.”
John growled, “Women are so complicated.”
“Damn straight,” Earl agreed as he too floated out of the room.
When Anna emerged form the shower she was wrapped in nothing but a towel.
“Finally,” John shouted, “how long did you…” His sentence cut short and his eyes widened.
Anna stared at him in question and asked, “What?” When John didn’t answer she went right back to drying her hair with the other towel she emerged with. Then she went over to her suitcase, that Andrea had graciously brought in for her. Anna pulled out a plain pink t-shirt and some blue jeans. Next she pulled out her bra and panties that she planed to wear.
John couldn’t believe what he was seeing. She was actually going to change in front of him, she hadn’t done that since the day they met. He could still hear her ranting from when she caught him staring at her. It happened a week ago, did she forget or something?
Anna slipped on her panties, with her towel still covering her. Then she slipped on her pants. Still holding the towel around her, she out on her bra. When she was sure nothing embarrassing was showing, that’s when she decided to yank the towel off. John’s eyes were still a little wide. He watched her in astonishment as she latched her bra and slide on her pink shirt.
Anna glanced over at him and said, “What?”
John’s surprised look soon went into a mischievous look as he said, “Well didn’t expect that.”
Anna blushed as she said, “Well it’s not like you haven’t seen it before. Besides if I’m going to be stuck with you I have to learn to get over my embarrassment about changing in front of you. You’re bound to see me sooner or later.”
“So you decided sooner,” John questioned as he vanished from the room.
Anna wanted to smack that pretty little head of his off his freaking shoulders. ‘Why that,’ she thought, ‘arrogant little…demon.’
‘Thank you,’ John shot back at her inside her mind. Anna growled out of frustration as she stormed out of the room, baggage and all.
John, Anna, Andrea, and Earl sat in the main lobby. Due to the receptionist suddenly going into shock, there was no one to receive the room keys. Therefore, Anna couldn’t leave until the replacement checked in. Anna huffed a series of complaints while Earl scooped out the pool table. There were several people playing pool and some of them were hustling the richer looking ones. A low threatening growl escaped him before he decided to interject the small pool game. Earl had slipped the hustler’s money back into the victims pocket before he whistled an old biker’s tune. Then he fazed outside and glanced around at the scenery.
Andrea was busy hustling about. She had several spirits that wanted to talk to her about something important. So Anna barely saw her. She happen to catch her in the corner of her eye as she ran up the stairs. Ghost or not she still made a racket when she ran up the stairs. Some people gazed up, but they saw no one. Several people wanted to leave right then and there when they started to believe something strange was going on in this hotel.
John was propped up against the wall. His boyish charms reign supreme as several fan girl ghosts happen to waltz in and see him. Several sighed with fondness and others acted like giddy school girls. It made Anna sick just to look at them. John would sometimes disappear with one or two of them, but only the ones that he considered worthy of his time. Anna couldn’t even begin to imagine what he was doing with them, nor did she want to.
That’s when an enormous group of people entered the vicinity. They were all wearing weird outfits and some even had weird hairdos. Most of the people looked to be around their mid thirties.
Anna happened to peer up. She couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle as they entered the main lobby.
Holly, Ben, Marge, Tory, Jeff, and Li were all entering the lobby together. Marge happen to suddenly got a jolt of energy that surged through her spine. She glanced around the room and a look of absolute fear was plastered on her face.
Ben noticed it and said, “Don’t worry Marge, we’re only going to talk about our mission today.”
“No,” Li interrupted, “I feel a strong presence in this room. Something evil is lurking about.”
“Is it a ghost?” Ben asked in a hushed voice.
“I don’t know,” Li said, “it feels stronger then a normal deity.”
“What if it’s him,” Marge stuttered.
Holly peered about the room and said, “Well we can’t really start exorcising this room unless we have the owner’s consent.”
“Agreed,” Tory said as he sat down in a small red chair.
That’s when Earl reappeared. He was still whistling his tune and happened to glance around at the small group of six. “Pretty weird looking bunch,” he stated as he examined them.
Holly’s eyes widened as she glanced around the room.
“What’s wrong?” Ben asked.
“I heard someone,” Holly whispered.
Earl happen to catch her whisper and he said, “Oh shit.” He then darted his way upstairs were John was.
“What did it say?” Ben asked.
“It said we were a weird looking bunch.” Holly stated.
Marge shook with fright as Tory laughed, “We’ll can you blame them?”
Holly glanced about. “Li,” she said, “focus your energy around this room and tell us if there is a ghost about.”
Li nodded and shut his eyes. When they reopened he nodded his head. “I feel two for sure,” he said, “two spiritual powers. I also feel two strong psychic powers as well. One is really powerful and the other feels really dominant, like they haven’t awaken their hidden abilities.”
“Where are they coming from?” Holly asked.
“I can’t make them out,” Li said, “the two spiritual powers I can feel above us. The powerful psychic though, it’s like a code of some sort. Like the person is trying to cover up their trail.”
“What about the other psychic?” Tory asked.
“They’re somewhere in this room,” Li said as he glanced over to the opposite side of him.
The other five psychic’s furiously glanced around.
Marge shivered again before she said, “I locked onto the dominant one.”
“Well,” Ben pestered, “who is he?”
“She,” Marge corrected.
“Where,” Holly persisted.
“I can’t lock onto it exactly,” Marge stuttered, “but I can feel it is definitely a woman, possibly a teenage girl. Her aura is clouded by despair and endurance. It’s like a double-edged sword. It’s both peaceful and evil. I sense great power in her though.”
“I’ll transport myself inside her mind,” Ben said, “then we’ll be able to see where she is.” He then closed his eyes and his hands gripped the chair’s rails. Slowly his head dropped and he slouched into his chair.
Anna was busy reading a magazine about the different forms of art. She let out a small chuckle as she read a comic strip to herself. Suddenly her body became tense and then it fell limp.
Meanwhile John and Andrea were upstairs chatting away about pivotal things.
“Alright fine,” John said, “I’ll be nicer to her.”
“Thank you master,” Andrea said with a bow.
“John, Andrea,” Earl screamed as he fazed through the wall.
“What is it,” John asked in a monotone voice.
“It’s,” Ben huffed, “Anna.”
John’s ears perked up and he asked in a panicky voice, “What happened? Is she alright?”
Earl shook his head. “She’s fine, right now.”
“What do you mean right now!” John yelled as he grabbed Earl by his vest and slammed him into the wall.
“There’s a group of,” Earl stuttered, “psychics downstairs. I swear they are, they heard me talk to Anna about how weird they were dressed.”
“WHAT!” John yelled as he flew through the door and down towards the lobby.
‘Alright,’ Ben thought, ‘now where are you at?’ He made Anna’s head turn every which way until he spotted his group of friends. “Bingo,” Ben said using Anna’s voice. He looked down and saw the outfit she had on too, for identifying purposes. He was about to call out to his buddies when suddenly he heard a strange voice.
“Get out of here!” a strange male voice yelled as he threw Ben’s soul out of her body and back into his.
Anna’s head swayed back and forth. She felt dizzy and she started to get a headache. “What happened,” she asked aloud as she sat back up and held her head in her hands.
‘We need to leave NOW!’ John demanded to her through telepathy.
Anna didn’t need to be told twice. She staggered out of the lobby and right passed the group.
Marge’s eyes happened to glance over at the girl. ‘That girl,’ she thought, ‘she seems frightened.’ Her gaze quickly went back to Ben’s as he began to reawaken.
Ben’s eyes slowly opened. He had a look of panic mixed with exhaustion.
“Well,” Holly asked, “where is she?”
Ben quickly shot up in his chair and glanced over at the now empty chair. “She was right there!” Ben shouted.
Everyone glanced over at the empty chair.
“That was where,” Marge stuttered, “she…she just ran past us.”
“WHAT!” everyone screamed. They quickly got up and ran outside. The small group scooped around the parking lot for her.
“Hurry up,” John yelled as Anna began to straddle the motorcycle.
“There!” Ben screamed as he pointed over at Anna, who was now putting her helmet on.
“Start it up, NOW!” John screamed as he stared over at the small group.
Anna frantically put on her helmet and started the motorcycle.
“Hey you,” Ben shouted, “stop!”
The small group of six began to run over to her.
Earl reappeared with Andrea, who was carrying Anna’s baggage.
“Look,” Tory shouted, “that bag is floating in the air.”
John had a look of panic on his face as he commanded everyone to hurry up. “Go, NOW!”
Anna kicked up the brake and started to rev the engines. Andrea threw the bag into the suitcase holder and Earl possessed Anna once more. It seemed like they weren’t going to make it. The group drew nearer, and John grew more frantic. Anna, or should I say Earl, revved the engines one more time before taking off down the road. Andrea tide down the baggage as she disappeared form their view.
“What on earth just happened?” Holly panted.
“I don’t know,” Tory stuttered as he fell to the ground landing right square on his butt.
“That girl,” Marge panted, “she’s a psychic alright, but there’s something more to her then just that.”
“What happened while you possessed her mind?” Li asked as he stared at the last corner where her motorcycle disappeared.
“I,” Ben panted, “I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know,” Holly snapped.
“Like I said,” Ben snapped back, “I don’t know. It was all going to plan. I had possessed her mind and immobilized her body. She couldn’t fight back, but then…”
“But then what,” Li asked as he helped Tory back up.
“But then I,” Ben said, “I was forced out by someone else.”
“Someone else?” Tory questioned.
“Yes,” Ben stated, “it wasn’t her who forced me out, but a young male.”
“A young male!” Holly screamed.
“He told me to,” Ben said, “to get out of there. It was like he was inhabiting her mind already and I intruded on him.”
“Oh my god,” Marge whispered.
“What,” Tory asked.
“I just remembered something,” Marge said, “this morning something happened to the receptionist in this hotel. She passed out cold and went into shock. Everyone is still baffled about it. Then this strange girl appears and Ben said that a young male voice told him to get out. Are you thinking that maybe…”
“John,” Holly snapped, “no wander she was in such a hurry to get away from us. I read that John is very territorial when it comes to human bodies. When Ben forced his way into her mind it triggered him to throw him out and reveal himself to us. That girl is just a puppet to him. He probably inhabited the receptionist before he possessed her.”
“He was right under our noses,” Tory muttered as he kicked up some dirt.
“And we didn’t notice,” Li finished as he turned back around and headed back inside the hotel.
“Next time though,” Holly muttered, “he won’t be able to escape us so easily.
Anna’s whole head was sweating up a storm as her eyes became hazy. “Why did we have to leave so early?” Anna asked in a normal voice.
Earl decided it was getting harder to drive in her condition and pulled over under a bridge.
“What are you doing?” John asked as he floated down right next to Anna, “We have no time to rest.”
“Oh for peek sakes,” Earl shouted, “the girl is absolutely drained Johnny. Can’t you tell she can barely see, let alone breath.”
It was true though. Anna drew in ragged short breaths and tried to steady herself. Her eyes slowly shut and her right hand swiped through her now sweaty hair.
John studied her over and said, “Now that you mention it…”
“I’m fine,” Anna panted as tried to stand back up.
“No,” John demanded, “you’re even more exhausted then yesterday. That psychic must have drained you more then I thought.”
“Psychic,” Anna questioned, “I didn’t see any…”
“They were a weird looking bunch,” Earl piped in as he exited her body and sat right beside her.
Anna began to breath even more rapidly. “Oh no,” she chocked, “did they find out?”
John looked away and said, “They might have, I highly doubt though that they’ll chase you though. My reputation is that I don’t possess the same person twice. I am also believed to switch people everyday. So they’ll rule you out.”
Anna’s breath began to calm down and she said, “I didn’t have my guard up, if only I was…stronger, then I could be of more use to you.”
John glared at her and said, “It’s not your fault. I was the one who left you alone. Besides you are already strong. I mean you put up with me everyday and only complain like every five minutes.”
Anna tried to laugh, but her body was still in shock.
“Hold still,” John demanded as he placed his left hand above her forehead. Suddenly Anna’s body began to cool down. She no longer felt like a baked potato, in fact she was regaining her strength bit by bit. When John was done Anna was completely restored.
“Wow,” Anna said, “I feel like a new person.”
“It’s called healing powers, love.” Earl chuckled, “Johnny boy here is just chopped full of surprises.”
Anna smiled up at John and whispered, “Thank you.”
John shrugged it off and said, “Can’t have my host dying on me.”
Anna knew thought that deep down inside he was considering her more and more as a friend. So was she. After a five minute rest Anna was ready to hit the open roads again. She re-straddled the motorcycle and Earl repossessed her. John hovered beside the bike and said, “Next stop, Clinton.”
Earl revved the engines again and headed up to the interstate and re-exited onto Clinton’s exit. Anna was enjoying the scenery. She sighed with enjoyment as she rode past several farming fields. They reminded her of the farmers near her old town. Her butt seemed to bump as she passed over the Memorial Green Bridge. She glanced over towards the river and shivered slightly. Several gray birds flew off from their perches above and swarmed down toward the river. Anna was slightly frightened by this, but soon shook the feeling away.
When they reached a filler station she pulled aside and filled up her tank. It was nearly empty. John pick pocketed a person who just exited the store and managed to snatch a hundred bucks from him. “Kind of cheap,” John stated as he gave her the money.
Anna said, “It’s fine.” Her eyes were half glazed with an unknown feeling. It was as if she had been here before. The feeling felt awful.
“You okay darling?” Earl asked.
“Nothing,” Anna said as she began to fill up her tank. When she was done she went in to pay. Then they drove off and headed for Oak Ridge. Days turned into weeks as Anna continued to ride her motorcycle town by town. She had managed to handle the motorcycle on her own by now, so Earl’s services were no longer required. Anna would never forget that day.
Earl was so proud of her, and yet he was so sad. He would no longer be able to feel the wind through his hair or feel the touch of a motorcycle again. Anna had nearly cried when she told him she was able to handle it. John had told him to go back to haunting arrogant bikers. Earl had bowed and thanked John for letting him assist Anna in her quest to restore him.
John had put on a mask and politely shoed him away. Anna could tell he was use to things like this and he hated his civil duty of being polite to his faithful servants. When Earl left John started ranting stuff like, “Finally,” and “I thought he would never leave.”
Anna was busy sipping some coffee that John had graciously paid for, and by paid I meant stole. It helped in keeping her awake. Lately all she wanted to do was sleep at a nearby hotel. John had gotten fed up with it one day and called her a lazy bum. Anna just snorted and said, “I told you I was lazy.”
John was busy looking at the women’s clothes that were right across the street form Anna. He had told Anna she was shopping for a new wardrobe. Anna had only agreed to shut up his complaining. She didn’t care if she looked like a homeless person or not. A long as she was being fed she was happy.
John glanced around and smiled inwardly. ‘My vessel has looked like a commoner for far to long. I will make her feel like a queen with this wardrobe.
When Anna was finished with her coffee she walked across the street to where John was. She too glanced in the window. His taste in clothes was actually alright. Anna had thought he would pick out something skimpy or trashy.
“Well,” John asked as he vanished into the glass window. His face reappeared amongst the glass, like a reflection. “What do you thin?” he asked.
“Impressive,” Anna said as she entered the store. Anna picked out several outfits and tried them on in the dressing booth. John eagerly waited outside. He would have joined her in the booth, but he was making sure those psychics didn’t catch him off guard again. When Anna emerged for the first time she was wearing a red silk cami with a white finger length skirt. She also wore a red berate that she had found and knee length black boots that appeared to have that vintage 90’s look to them.
John smirked before he let out a high pitched wolf whistle.
Anna smiled and asked, “You really think it’s me?”
“Yep,” answered John as he pushed her back into the booth to try on another. Several outfits later, Anna was finally ready. John then possessed the old looking store clerk and started a conversation with Anna.
“Good day miss,” John teased inside the store clerk’s body.
Anna couldn’t help but laugh, “Hello.”
“Is this all?” John asked as he scanned everything and placed them in shopping bags.
“Yep,” Anna stated as she grabbed the bags and winked at him.
“You have a nice day now.” John teased before he released the poor man’s mind back to him. The old man suddenly dropped down to the floor and began to huddle his body for warmth. “What happened,” he asked to himself. John laughed as he caught up with Anna and said, “That was an intriguing experiment.”
Anna scoffed, “Well at least he’s not in a coma.”
John frowned and said, “Well if you want…”
Anna glared up at him and continued her way to their hotel.
Later that night. Anna started up a nice long hot bath. She applied bath slats and soothing lavender bubble bath before she searched around for her red silk lingerie, John had bought for her, with black spider webs that stretched every which way. Anna grabbed a thick pink towel , that the hotel provided for her, and reentered the bathroom. She then stripped down into her birthday suit and slowly entered the tub.
John sat on top of the toilet seat and watched her intently as she emerged into the hot steamy water.
“Ahhh,” she moaned as she rinsed her hair.
John cleared his throat, as if he wanted acknowledgement.
“Yes,” Anna moaned as she began to lather her hair with the complimentary shampoos that the hotel provided.
“So,” he began as he turned his head away, “you’re no longer embarrassed about me being in here while you take a bath?”
“Nope,” Anna said as she rinsed her hair.
“Why not,” John asked.
Anna thought about it for a moment before she said, “I don’t know. I guess it’s because you won’t really try something on me I guess.”
John scoffed, “Like I’d try anything on a simple peasant like you.”
“Exactly,” Anna teased as she began to lather up her arms.
John felt offended. “For your information,” he snarled, “I know plenty of ghosts who would like to bang you.”
“Oh,” Anna asked with no interest.
“Yes,” John stated before he stood up and marched over towards the bathroom door.
“Like who?” Anna asked as she lathered up her legs.
John scoffed, “Like I’d tell a mangy peasant girl like you. You probably just want to know who they are just so you will tell Andrea to summon them. Then you would annoy me to no end with your constant ranting on how much they think you’re hot and how I’m not as sweet as them.” John caught himself and went whiter then normal.
“Why John,” Anna laughed, “I didn’t know you cared about me that much. Why if I didn’t know any better I’d say you were jealous of these ghosts.”
John scoffed, “Oh please, don’t make me laugh. Me jealous, that’s the most ridicules thing I ever heard. I’m their master, I have no reason to be jealous over those overstuffed pompous fools.”
Anna laughed wholeheartedly as he stomped off out of the bathroom and into the bedroom. When she was finished with her bath she walked back into her bedroom. She was wearing her short red silk lingerie and was still drying off her hair.
John coughed with annoyance as she sat down next to him and said, “Good night. Have fun watching me sleep.”
When she was dead asleep John put a protective barrier around her, like he did every night, and peered out into the stillness of the night.