“Why are you doing this?” She cried out.
The next instant the whole room went black as she felt the anesthetic doing its job.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
While Sally is sedated and bound to a chair in the basement of the house, Travis and Tony prepare things for the night. He wants to perform the ritual tonight while the moon is at its fullest and brightest. Tony then encourages Travis on summoning the other three girls to his house.
As Sally is under the full effect of the anesthetic, she starts to hear her mother’s voice beckoning her to wake up.
“Sally! You have to wake up. I beg you to fight it. Please Sally wake up and get out of there!”
Out of nowhere Sally lets out a loud scream startling Tony, who was packing items into a bag. He immediately felt the energy in the room, knowing it was a spiritual attempt to interact with the unconscious Sally.
As Tony walks over to her, he notices rapid eye movement behind her closed eyes. He places his hand upon her cheek, feeling the energy flowing in her veins. All of a sudden Sally opens her eyes, staring Tony in the face. Startled, he falls backward onto the floor.
“Impossible! The effect of the drug should last at least another couple of hours. Yet you’re fully awake,” said Tony.
She continues to look directly at him, but then after a few seconds she closes her eyes once more.
The others arrive and are quickly informed about the urgency. Tonight will be the only chance for Tony to pass over into the spiritual world and see what’s on the other side of death.
They waste no time and help walk Sally into Tony’s closed van. They sit her in the rear, close the doors and drive off into the night. After a while, she begins to gain consciousness with her mother’s voice still calling out to her. She manages to open her eyes, focusing on the things around her when she feels someone grasping her by the arm. Barely visible she recognizes Travis sitting next to her.
In a low drowsy voice Sally says, “where are we? Where are you taking me Travis? Help me, please!”
He continues to look the other way as she blacks out again.
Jason is at home pacing around the kitchen after failing to make contact with Sally on her cell phone. He decides to give Jackie a call.
“Jackie! It’s Jason, Sally’s father!”
Jackie takes a deep breath before answering,
“Hi! Mr. Mallock, what’s up?”
“Have you seen Sally? She hasn’t come home, and she isn’t answering her cell phone.”
“She must be with Travis, Mr. Mallock. I haven’t seen her since this afternoon.”
Jason runs his hand through his hair with frustration.
“Travis! Who is Travis?”
“Travis Malone. We met him when we had that overnight stay at the Miami university. I’m sorry Mr. Mallock. I thought you knew!”
Jason heard the tremor in Jackie’s voice.
“Yes, I remember her mentioning his name. You let me know if she gives you a call.”
Jackie rolled her eyes back. She knew Jason was always over protective towards Sally.
“Okay, Mr. Mallock I will,” she said goodbye and hung up.
Jackie then dialed Sally’s cell phone, and after three or four attempts, she finally manages to get through.
Sally’s phone starts to ring after Tony took possession of it. He picks it up to see who is calling her. Jackie’s name is flashing on the screen.
“What do you want honey?” He says sarcastically.
Jackie on the other end is surprised to hear a mans voice.
“Who is this? You’re not Travis. Where’s Sally?”
“She’s behind me sitting next to Travis. We’re all going on a little journey together, and tell her father to stop calling and keep his distance. Sorry, you can’t bid your friend farewell, you’ll be lucky if you see her again,” said Tony.
The line went dead. Jackie could not believe what she just heard. Tears rolled down her face as she tried frantically to phone Jason, but his cell phone is engaged. She sat down and burst into tears.
Jason was on the phone with Kate, who is busy at the lab researching on mediums and the paranormal. She asks Jason to come over, sure she has found something interesting to show him.
“Jason, I think you should come over to the lab. I think I found out some interesting stuff.”
He grabs his car keys.
“Okay, I will be right there.”
While driving as fast as he can to the forensic lab, he informs Kate about Sally’s disappearance, hoping she might know of her whereabouts.
Meanwhile, Jackie has stopped crying and is now feeling guilty for pushing her friend into a relationship with Travis. She decides to drive over to Tony’s place, hoping to find out where he has taken her best friend.
It takes nearly an hour when she arrives at the house. Jackie stops right in front of the gate and waits a while, looking for any sign of movement from inside. The house is large and scary giving her the shivers as the hairs on her neck start to rise. She courageously steps out of the car and slowly opens the unlocked gate. A small breeze picks up twirling fallen leaves in a spiral formation, making the place even more creepy than it already is. Jackie speeds up her pace and heads over to the living room window. She looks inside the dark room not able to see anything. She then applies pressure on the window, and it slowly opens a few inches.
“This guy can’t be bothered to lock up. I bet the front door is unlocked also. I just hope he doesn’t have a burglar alarm.”
Jackie climbs through the window and walks around the living room. She notices things she failed to see the last time. The furniture is old fashioned medieval. She looks at the portraits on the wall and the family photos on the mantle piece. She soon realizes this place must have been his parent’s house that he inherited from them.
Jackie enters the hallway, and to her left, she sees a door leading down to the basement. She descends the flight of stairs to face another door. She turns the handle, and it slowly opens making a squeaky sound as it reveals the room inside. The light is still on, and one of the chairs has been knocked over. It seems someone was in a hurry to leave. The room is quite large with wooden paneling covering the walls. A large table stands in the middle of the room, and in the corner sits a leather couch. To the right stands a bookcase, with a large collection of titles about the supernatural and the afterlife. Jackie knows where she is and what this room is used for. She is inside Tony’s private meditation room, where he would lay on the leather couch as he connects with the spiritual world.
Jackie notices something under the table. She bends down to retrieve a jacket that she immediately recognizes. Tears swell in her eyes as she holds onto Sally’s jacket, picturing her friend being taken away in a hurry.
She begins to search through the drawers, scattering its contents onto the table in a desperate frenzy to find something that might lead her to where Sally is. Next she begins to remove books from their shelves, not caring about the noise as they land with a thud on the floor. Jackie opened the last of the drawers when she noticed it somewhat different than the others. It wasn’t as deep, but still has the same length. At the back of the drawer, she felt a small latch and slowly unclasps it. Immediately the bottom of the drawer lifts up. Jackie removes the false bottom to discover photographs of young girls about her age with dates written on the back. Beneath the pile of pictures are notes, documents, birth certificates and an old notebook that she takes and slides in her jeans pocket.
Jackie makes a move to leave; afraid someone might come back. She turns towards the door when she suddenly stops frozen in her tracks. Goosebumps emerge all over her body as she hears a deep growling sound coming from the top of the basement stairs. The stair lights are off, and all she can see is a pair of bright eyes staring at her. She wonders if her mind is playing tricks on her, or maybe what she is seeing is just reflections from the lights in the room. Jackie closes her eyes for a few seconds, but the sound gets louder. She then looks up again to see the pair of eyes descending slowly towards her. She realizes that this is for real and something very large is making its way down the stairs approaching her closer and closer.