The Haunting at Grays Harbor (The River Book 8) Read Free Page A

was afraid for her oldest daughter. She said her
daughter related frightening stories of events in her bedroom. At first they
tried to dismiss it all, but she seemed worn out, tired of trying to find
excuses for the strange events. Then, I saw it.”
    Father Wynan paused, sat up in his chair, and cleared his
throat. He looked perplexed and anxious.
    “You saw what?” Steven prompted.
    “You’ll think I’m crazy, but I saw something in my peripheral
vision, above me. I glanced up, and a girl’s face was in the ceiling, sticking
out of it. She saw me looking at her, and she pulled back into the ceiling, and
was gone. I was terrified. It was as though it was eavesdropping on us, and
when it realized I’d seen it, it hid. Gives me chills to recall it.”
    Steven looked at Roy, who turned to look at Steven in
response. He saw the side of Roy’s mouth hidden from Father Wynan curl into a
smile.
    “I knew, from that moment on, that something way out of my
league was in that house,” Father Wynan continued. “I stopped trying to find
rational explanations for the things Barbara described, and instead looked for
ways to combat it. I’m afraid I’ve not been very successful so far. I was
hoping that by calling Dixon he’d have some approach that could help. Perhaps
you two have some idea of what is happening?”
    “How long ago did you see the face?” Roy asked.
    “Two weeks ago,” Father Wynan replied. “I tried everything in
the book that I know to do. The poor girl, Georgina, that’s the oldest
daughter, she’s going through hell. One day everything is fine, the next she’s
terrorized. Things seem centered on her.”
    “Did you encounter any other phenomena?” Steven asked.
“Anything else unusual?”
    “It was very hit and miss,” Father Wynan said. “I’d visit one
day and things seemed normal, though the family was always on edge. I’d visit
another day, and they’d be very upset. I only saw one other thing, the last
time I visited, and it…”
    He paused, looking down at his hands in his lap.
    “…I’m not sure I should relate it to you. It’s the kind of
thing that makes one sound like a raving lunatic.”
    “We’ve heard worse, I assure you,” Roy said. “If we’re going
to help, we need to know what you’ve seen.”
    “Well, the last visit I made there, three days ago,” Father
Wynan said, still looking down, “I was visiting with Georgina in her room. She
was sitting on her bed with several dolls arranged in a circle. I was standing
by the bed, talking to her, and I felt a change in temperature, like when
you’re standing in the sun, and something casts a shadow on you, and you lose
the heat. It felt like it was behind me, so I turned away from the girl to see
what was there. Nothing. When I turned back…”
    Again he paused. Steven and Roy waited while he gathered his
courage to speak.
    “…when I turned back, she was no longer on the bed. She was
on the wall, naked, upside down. There were spikes – they looked like railroad
spikes – in her feet and hands, pinning her to the wall. She’d been crucified. She
was staring at me with her mouth open, trying to scream, but nothing came out.
I stepped back in shock. I remembered stepping on something, a toy on the
ground, and I looked down, trying not to lose my balance. When I looked back
up, she was back on the bed, just as before – playing with her dolls, looking
at me as though nothing had happened. I excused myself and left. I’m afraid
that when I reached Barbara downstairs, I was so distressed at what I’d seen
that I told her I wouldn’t be able to help her any further. Then I left. By the
next morning I was feeling so bad about abandoning her and that little girl
that I decided to call Dixon and see if he could help.”
    “What do you think it is?” Roy asked. “In the house?”
    “I have no idea,” Father Wynan said, “I honestly don’t, and I
haven’t got the faintest clue what to do about it. I only know