TWO SOULS: INTO THE FIRE ... # 303

TWO SOULS: INTO THE FIRE
# 303
warning...adult content





~
The next morning, Kinsey came down stairs to start the coffee brewing in the kitchen. As he got to the hallway, he was surprised to see the back door standing open, and the floor sopping wet from the rain. Frowning, he looked around the parking lot, then seeing nothing unusual, closed the door. He'd get the coffee going, then mop up the hallway. In the kitchen, though, he saw the little light on the coffee maker was blinking, and the microwave clock was blinking, too, 12:00, over and over.

"Hmm, electricity must have gone out last night," he said. He re-set everything, then went to get the mop from the storage closet. As he came back by his office, he noticed the door was open. That was odd, he thought. He always closed it at night. Going in, he saw the flashlight laying on the floor, still on, but the batteries were almost used up. Nothing else seemed out of place. He checked his petty cash box, just in case, and it was fine, still locked.

Taking the mop toward the back door, he began the clean-up. He had no idea of the things that had gone on the night before.

Just then, Linda came down stairs, hoping for some coffee. Seeing Kinsey, she hollered, "Good morning."

"Hey, morning Linda," Kinsey said, looking up. "Coffee should be about ready in there. I'll join you in a few."

She poured herself a cup, then, taking it into the office, where she turned on the little TV to watch the morning news. She made herself comfortable on the couch. A few minutes later, Kinsey came in with his own cup of coffee, and they chatted about this and that, the beach trip, and how the kids were now watching cartoons upstairs. Melody came in, then, still in her robe and fuzzy slippers.

"Is Ghost up yet?" she asked.

"No, haven't seen him," Linda said.

Kinsey looked back and forth between the two girls, confused. "What...did Ghost stay over last night?"

Linda and Melody told him what had happened, and that Ghost and Steve had gotten into a bad fight, so Ghost had stayed here.

"Yeah, in the back room, behind the stage," Melody said. "I'll go check on him." She came back a few minutes later, to report him missing. "He wasn't in there, and I'm getting a bad feeling that something happened." She looked at Kinsey and Linda for answers, but neither of them had any ideas.

"Did y'all hear any noise down here last night?" she asked.

Kinsey shook his head. "No, I didn't even hear the thunderstorm. The electricity must have gone out, though, because all the clocks were blinking this morning. I did find a flashlight left on, here in the office."

"Well, maybe Ghost got up in the night, and came in here?" Linda asked.

"Aw, crap...the door was left open, too. I'll bet he went out," Kinsey said. "I hope he wasn't sleepwalking...no telling where he'd be by now."

Melody jumped up, heading for the stairs. "We have to find him."

"Wait, maybe he walked home," Linda said. "I'll call over there, just in case." She followed Melody upstairs.

Melody had thrown on some clothes, and was about to go looking for Ghost. "Wait, hang on a minute," Linda said. Let me call over there first." Punching in their number, she heard it ring, and ring. "Come on...come on...answer the damn phone." Finally, Steve answered.

"Hello?" he mumbled, having just been woken up.

"Steve, this is your sister. Is Ghost out there with you?"

"Yeah, he's here...why?"

"Oh, thank God. We thought he went sleepwalking or something. We couldn't find him." She paused for a second. "Everything ok?"

"Mm-hmm, guess so. We were asleep. I'm going back to sleep," Steve said, and he hung up the phone.

Linda stared at the phone. "Well, he's ok; he's at home, and Ghost is there. He said all is ok, and they were sleeping."

"Oh, good," Melody said. "Do you think they really are ok, now...I mean after that fight and all last night."

Linda shrugged. "I don't know. Guess we'll have to wait until we see them," she said. "Go down and tell Kinsey, while I check on the kids. I'll be down in a few minutes."

Melody did tell Kinsey, then poured herself another cup of coffee. She sat the table, there in the kitchen, drumming her fingers. "Something still don't feel right, Kinsey," she said.

Kinsey nodded. "I know. I don't know what we're missing, but there's bound to be more to this."

They heard the back door slam open, then heard Terry holler, "Hey, anybody up?"

~
Next part coming soon!


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