Ghost Story

Chapter 7

Emma slid down the door to the floor. Her head fell against the door with a thump. "I hate when Uncle James and Aunt Jackie come over! They just think that I'm a screwed up child!" She opened up her recorder app again. "Talk to me, Killian. Say nice things."

"You mean the truth?" She was shocked to hear a full sentence from him, crystal clear too.

"Yeah."

"Not screwed up," he said.

"Emma Nolan! Get down here please!" David called out.

She stood up with a sigh and plugged her phone in, beginning to charge. "I'll be right back." She went downstairs and stood in front of her father and now her mother. Jackie and James weren't anywhere in sight. "Yeah?"

"What happened to the window?" Mary Margaret asked.

Emma sighed and grabbed her mother's hand. She brought her to her bedroom and shut the door behind her. "Neal showed up today. I don't know what he wanted from me, Mom. He scared me."

Mary Margaret became concerned. All thoughts of the window forgotten. "Did he hurt you?"

"No. He left shortly after he showed up. Something tells me that he won't come back though." She smirked internally. "Please don't tell Dad," she begged.

"I won't. At least not while your aunt and uncle are here."

"Thanks, Mom." Emma leaned over and hugged her tightly. "Why are they here anyway?"

"Your father invited them over to see the house. Jackie has already pointed out everything about what is wrong with the house and that we should have found a nicer, newer house instead." The older woman rolled her eyes. "They leave next Monday." There weren't many things that made Mary Margaret mad, but Jackie and James were definitely one of those things. And also anything or anyone that messed with her daughter. "Alright, I have to go and start dinner. You can come down and help me, and tell me who you have been talking to." Emma smiled and grabbed her mother's offered hand.

They went downstairs and David was in the living room with his brother and sister in law. He excused himself and met his wife in the kitchen. "So?" David questioned under his breath, trying to keep Emma's attention away from them.

"She really doesn't know," Mary Margaret said. "I have to make dinner. Get out of my kitchen." She shoved David out of the kitchen playfully, and kissed him quickly before closing the door. "Now, who is this person you keep talking to?" She asked with a smirk.

Emma smiled and blushed. She plugged her phone in again, and opened the recorder app again, ready to catch whatever Killian had to say. "This house is haunted, mom. A teenage boy died in a fire in 1849, and has been stuck here since. He talks to me, and I talk to him."

Mary Margaret laughed, "you're kidding, right?"

"Nope." Emma shook her head. "Introduce yourself, Jones."

Just then, a voice spoke, "name's Killian."

The older woman's jaw dropped. "Woah!"

"Do something else, Killian." Just then the pots hanging above the stove started to clank together, and Emma laughed at her mother's expression. "He's not here to hurt us, Mom. He just needs help."

"I have to say, this is really cool. Living in a haunted house," she said and grabbed some ingredients from the refrigerator.

"Who lives in a haunted house?" James asked when he came into the kitchen.

"We do," Emma spoke up.

James scoffed. "I hope you actually don't believe that nonsense. Ghosts aren't real," he said as he grabbed a beer from the fridge.

"Are too!" Emma yelled.

"Mary Margaret, I think your daughter has lost it," he half whispered in a sing-song voice.

"Now, now, James, we all have our own opinions," Mary Margaret said, not looking up from the tomato she was cutting up.

"Yeah, I know. It's just that my opinions are right," he said and went back into the living room

Emma groaned loudly. "He makes me feel crazy! Every time he comes, he tells me that I'm wrong. That what I do is always wrong!"

"Proof?" Killian asked from the recorder.

Emma shook her head. "No matter what you did, he wouldn't believe in it."

"Challenge accepted," he said and Emma laughed at his stubbornness.

"Something small, okay? And don't scare him too much." There was a knock on the wall and both women went out to the living room. There was a very loud bang on the wall, that made everyone jump, except for Emma and Mary Margaret.

"What the hell was that?" David asked, looking around.

"Probably your house preparing itself to fall down," Jackie said, buffing her nails on her shirt and looking at them.

"This house is very safe, Jack," David assured her.

"But it does have a draft," James said, pulling his arms around himself.

Suddenly, the tv cut out. Emma stifled her laughter. It suddenly came back on again and the lights began to flicker. "Have you paid your electric bill?" Jackie asked harshly. The electronics quit going haywire, and Emma could feel as the energy in the room became heavier.

"We do," David said. He was starting to become annoyed now, too. Mary Margaret went into the kitchen to check on her food, while Emma stayed sitting quietly in the living room. The tension in the room was so thick, that you could cut it with a knife.

The rest of the evening was quiet. Killian hadn't shown up anymore, or made his presence known. They all settled down to watch a movie. Jackie and James were snuggled up next to each other and so was her parents. She had grown used to her parent's shared kisses and hugs, but it was weird to see her uncle and aunt doing the same thing. Because her dad was a twin, it was like seeing him with another woman.

When a sex scene came onto the screen, Emma found cover in the bathroom. She hopped up onto the counter and leaned against the mirror. She covered her face with her hands. She was becoming tired, so she snuck up to her bedroom. No one would really miss her. She laid down and buried herself in the blankets.

"Night, Killian," she said and turned off the light.

Before she closed the recorder, her replied with, "night, love."

She could swear she heard him whisper, "I love you," but she wasn't sure, because her recorder wasn't open.