Disclaimer:  In first chapter.

Chapter 4

Glancing back down, Jarod slowly eased himself off the floor.  He could feel his legs slightly trembling from Parker’s words just seconds before.  They are us, the thought kept running through his mind, but how?  How could the two corpses below the floorboards possibly be Parker and him, it just didn’t make sense.  There had to be some logical explanation behind all of this.

“Jarod, what the hell is going on here?” asked Miss Parker from behind him.

He wanted to give her a straight answer, but truthfully, he didn’t know.  Shrugging his shoulders, he replied back, “I really don’t know.  I’m just as confused as you are.”  Never taking his eyes off the skeletal remains, Jarod slowly eased himself back to where Miss Parker was standing.

Finally peeling his eyes away, he glanced over at Miss Parker and asked, “Does the Centre know where you are?”

“No,” she whispered out softly.  “I made sure to cover my tracks.  Besides, if the Centre knew we were here, you would already be on your way back to Blue Cove, and as for me, well, let’s just say I would be the newest patient in renewal wing, compliments of my brother.”

“That’s what I figured,” he said in a grim voice.  “With the Centre, I knew what I was dealing with, but this,” he said waving his hand through the air, “…is a different subject all together.  Whoever is doing these things are obviously professionals.  As for why they’re doing it, remains to be seen.”

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’ve seen enough, and now I just want to get the hell out of here,” Miss Parker replied anxiously, walking over to a nearby door that sat off to the side near the fireplace.

As Miss Parker tried to open that door, Jarod decided to try the door in the opposite corner.  Grabbing the doorknob, he jiggled the handle, but the door wouldn’t budge.  He next tried to pull and push on the door, but once again nothing happened.  Finally, becoming frustrated, he took a few steps back and made a running start for the door.  The only reward Jarod received was painful shoulder and bruised ego for his futile endeavors.

Rubbing the soreness from his shoulder, Jarod walked back across the way to where Miss Parker was.  Obviously she wasn’t having any luck as she cursed and kicked at the door furiously, becoming more annoyed with each passing second.  Growling out in frustration, she leaned back against the door, glancing up at the ceiling.  Closing her eyes she bit out, “I swear, when I find the people behind all of this, they’re going to wish they were already a ghost by the time I’m done with them.”

No sooner had the words left Miss Parker’s mouth did a book come flying off one of the bookshelves, almost skimming Miss Parker’s face as it flew past her, landing a few feet beside her.  Looking at Jarod with startled eyes she asked, “What the hell just happened?”

“I don’t know.  Maybe the ghosts don’t like your attitude,” he smiled faintly.  Walking over to the book, Jarod knelt down beside it and picked it up.

Walking over to Jarod she said, “Well, what did they expect, that I would get down on my hands and knees, thanking them for this lovely Christmas Eve.  You know, I have places to be.”

Glancing up at her, Jarod asked, “Like who?  Last I checked Sydney was spending the holidays with Michelle and Nicholas, while Broots and Debbie were going to visit his parents.”

Folding her arms across her chest she smirked, “Well Jarod, what can I say, you can’t know everything about me.” 

Jarod knew she was enjoying this.  She had that mischievous glint in her eyes, the same one she had when they were children, when she knew something that he had no knowledge of.  And it still bothered him, just like it did back when they were children.  Fuming inwardly, Jarod perused through the pages absently, not even bothering to read the words for his mind was wondering as to whom Miss Parker was spending Christmas with.

“This really is bothering you, isn’t it?” Miss Parker questioned, clearly enjoying the fact that she knew something that Jarod didn’t.

“Why should it bother me?” He answered nonchalantly, “You’re free to spend Christmas with whoever you want.”

Eyeing him she said, “Well how about I give you a little clue.  The person I was supposed to spend the holidays with is a special…man in my life that I love very dearly.  Did you know that after New Year’s, I plan to run off with him.”

Jarod looked up sharply, stunned by what he just heard.  “You…you’re leaving the Centre…Blue Cove.”

Grinning at the astonished look on his face she said, “Why yes Jarod, I am.  I’m surprised you didn’t get the memo.”

Hearing that Miss Parker was leaving the Centre was a bittersweet moment for Jarod.  On the one hand, he was glad that she was finally leaving the house of horrors, but on the other hand, she would be leaving his life as well.  Swallowing down the lump in his throat he whispered out softly, “Well, I’m very happy for you, Miss Parker.  Maybe this new man in your life will finally make you happy.”

“He already does,” she replied back gently, looking away from Jarod’s solemn brown eyes. 

Jarod sensed there was something else she wasn’t saying, but he decided to let it go, for now anyways, because at the moment they had more pressing matters to deal with.  Clearing his throat, he finally read the title of the book.  “The Ghosts Who Stole Christmas,” he mumbled out, flipping aimlessly through the pages.

Standing beside Jarod, Miss Parker looked over and commented, “There has to be a reason why this particular book flew off the shelf.  Maybe there’s a clue to tell us why we’re locked in here like damn guinea pigs.”

One of the pros when it came to being a pretender was that Jarod had a photographic memory.  Anything he read, he always absorbed like a sponge.  And, that’s what he was doing right at the moment as he flipped from one page to the next, hoping to find the answers they were looking for.

Jarod was twenty pages in the book, when all of a sudden the pages sped past his eyes before stopping on a chapter called ‘The Tale of the Star Crossed Lovers.’  With Parker beside him, Jarod began to read out loud.

“…Christmas, 1917. It was a time of dark, dark despair. American soldiers were dying at an ungodly rate in a war torn Europe while at home, a deadly strain of the flu virus attacked young and old alike. Tragedy was a visitor on every doorstep while a creeping hopelessness set in with every man, woman, and child. It was a time of dark, dark despair.

But here at 1501 Larkspur Lane for a pair of star-crossed lovers tragedy came from not war or pestilence—not by the boot heel or the bombardier—but by their own innocent hands.

His name was Maurice. He was a brooding, but heroic man beloved of Lyda, a sublime beauty with a light that seemed to follow her wherever she went. They were likened to two angels descended from heaven, whom the gods could not protect from the horrors being visited upon this cold, grey earth.

Driven by a tragic fear of separation they forged a lovers’ pact so that they might spend eternity together and not spend one precious Christmas apart.

And till this day, rumor has it their ghosts haunt the old, condemned mansion here on Larkspur Lane every Christmas Eve. Hoping to bring upon the same fate to other, so called star-crossed lovers, which they bestowed upon themselves…”

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me,” Miss Parker spat out caustically. 

“What?” Jarod inquired, clearly baffled by Miss Parker’s demeanor.

“Don’t you get it, Jarod?  Whoever has us locked up here thinks that we’re star-crossed lovers,” Miss Parker told him.

“Star-crossed lovers, huh?” Jarod smiled.

Glaring at him she warned him, “This isn’t funny, so wipe that smirk off of your face.”  Pacing back and forth, she began to pinch the bridge of her nose.  “We need to find a way out of here before we end up like those corpses.”

No sooner had the words left her mouth, did the door beside them open up.  Miss Parker instantly reached behind her, pulling out her gun.  “Who’s there!” she shouted out.  When no one said anything, she took a few hesitant steps towards the door.  Still keeping her gun pointed at the doorway, Miss Parker slowly reached out her hand for the doorknob.  Latching onto the handle, she threw open the door, ready to shoot anyone that posed a threat to her and Jarod.  However, there was no one standing on the other side.

When her gaze fell upon the next room, she was surprised at what she found.  Looking back at the room they just exited she said, “Jarod, am I going crazy, or are both of these rooms replicas of one another?”

Stepping into the room they just entered, Jarod waved his flashlight around.  Looking up at the ceiling Jarod replied back, “Well Parker, if you’re going crazy than I must be too because these rooms are one and the same.”  Looking across the way, Jarod pointed out, “Let’s try the door in the opposite corner; hopefully it will lead us out of here.”

Walking hurriedly across the room, Jarod and Parker stopped in front of the door.  When Jarod tried the knob, both were surprised that it wasn’t lock.  Stepping through the doorway, they were once again greeted with the room they just left.

“I swear, this is some demented fun house,” Miss Parker commented from beside him.

Looking over at Miss Parker, Jarod suggested, “Listen, I’m going to go through that door over there in the corner.”  Glancing behind him, he pointed his flashlight at the door they just came through.  “So, I should I come out from that way.”

“Jarod, I don’t know about this,” Miss Parker said uneasily.

“Why Miss Parker, is that concern I hear in your voice?” teased Jarod.

“My only concern is that if something happens to you, my ass will be on the line if the Centre found out that you got killed while under my supervision,” she answered back evenly.

Smile never wavering, Jarod leaned down to her ear and whispered, “Well then, we wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to that pretty little ass of yours.”  And with that, Jarod playfully swatted her derriere before dashing across the room, leaving a stunned Miss Parker behind.

Stopping in front of the door, Jarod took a few deep breaths, trying to calm himself down.  He still couldn’t believe what he just did, but he didn’t regret it.  Seeing the surprised look on Miss Parker’s face was priceless.  Still smiling, Jarod placed his hand on the knob and opened the door.  Taking a fleeting glance over his shoulder, he could see Miss Parker standing by the other door, shifting anxiously on her feet.  Still grinning, he waved to her.  The only response he got back was a roll of the eyes with some grumbling on the side.  Turning around, Jarod finally stepped through the door.

Walking further into the room, he was surprised to find no Miss Parker on the other side.  Before he had a chance to go back, the door he came out of slammed shut.  Running to the door, Jarod jiggled the doorknob.  “Miss Parker!” he shouted, pounding the door with his fist, hoping to somehow get her attention, but it was useless for he knew there was no way of getting out.

From across the way, he heard the other door open up.  Hope surged through him for he thought that it was Miss Parker, but it was instead an older, stocky gentleman.  When the older man locked eyes with Jarod he demanded, “What’s going on, and what are you doing in my house?”

XXXXXX

To Be Continued…