Page 3 of Ghost Hunters 1

It was early evening when she finished cleaning the parlor.After years of neglect the place looked pretty good.She couldn’t find any signs of the fire that supposedly destroyed the Inn.She didn’t know who rebuilt it and no one in town did either.They claimed that was part of the haunting.One day, the Inn burned to the ground and the next day the Inn was back in all its fading glory.It was one of the reasons people were afraid to come here.

Sitting down on one of the stairs to rest a bit, she noticed that Poppy had made herself comfortable on the braided rug underneath the round table.She was snoozing in the last bit of sunlight coming through the open door.Twisting open the cap of a water bottle she viewed the parlor.It looked clean and ready for someone to come sit and visit.She glanced over at the round table again and frowned.

Jillian had dusted it earlier but when she looked at it just now the dust was back.She got up and walked over to the table.In the dust someone had written the words...

“Get out while you can.”

Chapter Three

Jillian shivered atthe cryptic message.The hair on the back of her neck tingled and she had goose bumps on her arms.She glanced around the parlor.There wasn’t anyone else in the house and the Inn was at the end of a long dirt road.The town of Branden was five miles away.It was possible that someone had entered the Inn while she was busy opening up one of the rooms upstairs.But she hadn’t heard Poppy bark and she hadn’t heard a car outside.The words made no sense to her.

Why would anyone try to frighten her away?Was this part of the haunting?

There did not seem to be any mention in her files of trouble associated with vandals or anything else like that.The people of the town nearby wanted nothing to do with the Inn.Most of them kept away from the place entirely.

Jillian shook her head at her fanciful thoughts of ghosts when a door slammed shut upstairs.She paused and wondered if she should check it out.She sighed as she realized she had to really.If someone had sneaked in here, she couldn’t sleep here, could she?

So, she went to investigate the noise.

Poppy jumped up and followed her along the stairs.

Jillian got to the top and saw the third door down was closed.She walked toward the door and turned the handle.The door swung open easily enough.She couldn’t see anything wrong in the room.She shrugged and thought that maybe the wind had blown the door closed.She walked over to the window and closed it.She had opened it earlier to air the room out.

She looked down at her dog and shook her head.“I must be tired.That’s the only thing that makes any sense.If someone had been here you would have let me know.”She stroked the dog’s ears.“Come on Poppy; let’s go get something to eat.I don’t know about you but I’m getting hungry.”

Poppy’s tail wagged in response.

She turned and out of the corner of her eye, she caught a movement at the end of the hall.

Poppy growled.

For a brief second or two, she could have sworn someone had been standing there but before she could make out the face they disappeared.Fear flashed in Jillian.It started in her chest and grew as it spread through her abdomen.

She closed her eyes and opened them again.

Looking at the end of the hall she saw nothing.