Bradley quickly caught his wife before she actually hit the floor. She had been stabbed! “I heard a noise by the door,” she said quietly, “and turned to look. A man was standing there and threw a knife at me. That’s all I remember, except for the pain.” He had stabbed her close to her shoulder, a nice soft fleshy part right there. I told Bradley to take her to the doctor, which was about a 3 hour drive. Perhaps too long to wait. His car wouldn’t start, someone took the battery. We checked my car, but the same thing. “I can remove the knife,” said Kat, “I have done things like that before.” “She is very good,” I said to Susan, “you have nothing to worry about.”

“Do you have a phone?”, Bradley asked me, “mine is missing somewhere, so is Susan’s. We couldn’t find them this morning.” Mine and Kat’s were missing too, we had them charging overnight and this morning they were gone after breakfast. I should have closed the door so the alarm would have gone off warning us. Lesson learned, the hard way. Someone wants us trapped out here. And “here” is a very lonely spot. But Bradley said some people were coming out later in the day and wanted to stay for a few days. Apparently they were quite excited about this “ghost” story. But it will mean a working vehicle to take Susan to the doctor later. Plus it will mean some phones to use.

I told Bradley I wanted to check the third floor so he gave me some keys for all the doors. After Kat removed the knife we went back to our room. I had marked everything so we could check things out better. I stood where Susan had been. “Stand her Kat,” I said, “and tell me what you see.” So she did, and she stared. “I can’t see anything but the door,” she said rather puzzled. “Exactly,” I said, “she couldn’t see the doorway or a man standing there.” Meow?=I say something? “In a minute M.C.”, I said, “we’re trying to figure something.” Meow,meow.=If ghost, can see through door and throw knife through door.

“Feel this Muffin,” I said showing her the knife, “it’s solid, and so is the door, there’s no way to throw this through the door.” Muffin felt the knife, then went and felt the door. Then she jumped on the bed with M.C. Meow,meow=My good theory tossed out window. Meow?=I say something? “In a minute M.C.,” I said again. “But why would she say that she could see a man when she obviously couldn’t?”, asked Kat. “I have no idea,” I said looking around. Meow?=I say something NOW? “Sorry M.C., ” I said, “yes, go ahead.” Meow.=Human Susan not even look at doorway or door, she look in corner over there at hole in wall. I look over there but couldn’t see any hole.

“Where’s the hole M.C.?”, I asked. Meow.=It not there now, it close up. I took Mr. Cat over to show me exactly where it was and he spotted it right away. “There’s a hall closet right there,” said Kat. So off we went to check it out. Sure enough, a nice big storage closet with that little opening. “Are you going to tell me that some guy threw that knife through that little hole and hit Susan?”, asked Kat. “Doesn’t seem possible, yet it is,” I said, “look close at this knife, it’s a special throwing knife.” “I know that,” said Kat. “But this knife was not thrown,” I said, “it was shot from a device, kind of like a slingshot.” Kat looked at me. “Are you feeling okay?”, she asked.

“Ha, ha,” I said, “if we had our phones I could show you. Sorry I didn’t let you speak up sooner M.C., I won’t do that again.” Meow.=I forgive, this getting to be exciting case. Meow,meow.=If you want to be ghost maybe it exciting, but me not want to be ghost. Then I thought for a moment, two brooms were hanging on the wall, one was loose, the other was like it was nailed in place. I tried to move it and right away a door opened in the back of the closet. We went in and it was a nice little room, with a bed. “Someone is staying in here,” I said, “but who and why?” There were old clothes from the 1920s hanging in the little closet of the room. “That’s how he fools people into thinking he’s from the past,” I explained. We didn’t find anything else noteworthy.

To Be Continued.

©2021 Steve McLeod.