Page 31 of A Haunting at Keystone Manor

Jake is still standing beside me, quiet. He looks nervous as he asks, “Are you sure this is going to work? My father—”

I cut him off. “Brandon will take care of your father.”

“Wait, what—” Brandon starts to protest but I continue, eyes locked with Jake’s. “Everything will work out, I promise. Just give me time. You said you trusted me, right?” He nods.

“So just trust me.”

Chapter twenty-two

Complications

Jake

I can't believe Alex's plan actually worked. With Kayla gone, I feel like I can breathe again. It's good to be able to move around without having to worry about being seen by the wrong people. Alex and I have been staying in our physical form since she was arrested. I can't remember the last time I even tried to get back to my ghost form. I wonder if I still could, if I wanted to.

I look up at the house and assess it with a critical eye for the first time. I have a list of things I want to do to spruce this place up, but I don't know where to start. As neglected as the yard is, the house itself is just as bad. The wood siding is rotted away in places, and the brown paint has largely flaked away. The roof looks original. So yeah, it’s a work in progress.

It's so quiet out here, and there’s not an animal in sight. They probably take one look at this place and run in terror. It truly does look haunted, so I guess Alex was onto something with his idea of turning that into a selling point.

A car pulls up and interrupts my planning. Thinking it’s a guest, I’m about to walk over and greet them when I see who gets out of the car. Big, tattooed, and mean looking. He looks like the rest of my father’s goons. I back away as he walks up to me, stopping just a few feet away. Too close.

“Who are you?” I ask.

“My name is Sergio. I work for your father. He wants you to come home. He’s asked me to come collect you.”

I stare at him, confused. "How does my father know I'm here?" I'm dead, I know he saw my body.

"Your father has eyes all over this place. You walk around freely, and think you haven't been seen? He wants to know what kind of games you are playing. He is not taking kindly to being taken for a fool, not by you, and especially not when it costs him valuable employees." He takes another step towards me. “Time to go home.”

“Stay away from me!” I put my hands up as if that’ll ward him off, but he keeps coming until he's right in my face. I push him back with all my strength. “Tell my father I’m not interested in coming home, and I don't want to see him. Please leave, or I'll call the cops. You’re trespassing.” I'm bluffing and he knows it.

He studies me for a minute, and I bristle. “You have cell phone on you?” he asks, looking me up and down.

I can feel the blood draining from my face as he watches me. “Leave. Now.” I’m debating whether or not I can reach the front door before he can catch me when he grabs onto my arm.

“Don’t touch me!” I yell, trying to pull out of his hold.

He drags me towards his car, my feet scraping along the gravel as I try to pull away from him. His grip is painful on my arm, and I stupidly wonder if ghosts can bruise.

“Your father wants to see you, knock some sense into you. He was willing to put up with your childish nonsense for a while, but it’s time to be a man and come home. You have responsibilities.”

Fuck. I still remember the last time my father tried to beat some sense into me. It’s not something I want to experience again.

There’s no way I’m letting this guy put me in his car. I have no idea what’ll happen to me if I leave this property, and I don’t want to find out. “I can’t leave the property, you fucking idiot!” I use my free hand to hit him in the face. Not expecting it, he stumbles a step and I yank out of his hold, putting distance between us. I need to get to Alex, fast. I try to disappear into my ghost form, but nothing happens. Fear creeps up my spine when I realize I’m stuck. I can’t fight this guy, he outweighs me by at least fifty pounds of pure muscle.

“You are coming with me whether you like it or not, little boy. We can do this easy way, or hard way. Your choice. I like hard way, personally. You’re very pretty, like a woman.”

I make a run for the front door, panic flaring in my chest, but Sergio quickly catches up to me and wraps his arms around my waist, lifting me off the ground and dragging me back to the car.

“Get off me! Alex!” I scream and throw my head back. I feel a satisfying crunch as my head makes contact with his nose, but his grip on me doesn’t loosen. I throw my head back a second time, but before I can get him again, he wraps a hand in my hair and pulls my head back hard, stilling my movement.

“I really like hard way. But I will make you regret that. Is a long drive to your father’s house, and he never specified what condition you had to be in.”

I go limp as he drags me, trying to clear my mind and focus on disappearing. In my sheer panic, I wasn’t able to do it. If I remain stuck in my physical body, I’m a dead man. Focus, Jake. I repeat that in my head, and he gets me to the car with no resistance. As he reaches back to open the door, I let go of all of my energy. I suddenly fall out of his grip, landing on my knees on the gravel.

“What the fuck?” he yells, confused. “Where did you go?”

He looks around for me, but he’s not going to find me. I need to get to Alex.