The Last Guardian

Chapter_11: Meet the Munroes

It was a cloudy evening and Lisa had slept the entire day. She was well rested now, she went to make herself some tea. The clouds were getting thicker, thunder rolled in the skies and a cool breeze blew. A few drops of rain started to fall indicating the arrival of monsoon. Lisa sat down by the window if her room with a warm cup of tea and looked outside. She took a sip and began to reflect at the past few days. She never believed in the supernatural but after being subject to such weird and strange happenings, she didn't know what to think.

She began to miss her family and wondered if she should visit them. Her family consisted of her mum and dad and a younger brother. They lived in the country side in a town far away from the city called Hope. It was a town of simplicity- of simple folks and a simple life. Her thoughts went back to the time when almost a year later she decided to join the police program and come to the city. She had a falling out with her dad, who didn't want her to leave. Her mum and her brother supported her decision though. She had not spoken to her dad in months and she barely had time to talk to her mum or her brother due to her hectic schedule.

She put down her cup and went to her table and took out an old family photo album from the drawer. She then sat down on the chair and placed the album on her lap and began to look at the photos. She browsed through all the photos starting from when she was just a kid holding her baby brother in her arms. There was a picture of back when she barely had any teeth, there was another when she had broken her arm on a hunting trip when she was ten years old and another one when she graduated from high school. There were family photos and photos of every important event from her life...

She had reached the end of the album when suddenly she stumbled upon a very old black and white photo of a family photo of her father when he was much younger. She recognised her grandparents and her father but there was another middle aged lady standing behind them wearing a long flowing dress. Something about her stoic appearance and mean looks seemed familiar. She had seen this woman somewhere but couldn't remember where. She didn't even know who she was. She glanced at the bottom of the picture, something was written on the white outline-

"Munroe family- 1910"

She kept on staring at the picture, trying to recall about that strange woman.

"Why does she look familiar?", she kept thinking.

And then like a thunderbolt hitting her brain, she remembered- this was the same woman she had been seeing in her dreams- the woman she saw in her car and back at the car crash site.

"Who's she ...why do I see her everywhere...", she kept thinking.

Suddenly she felt a strange itch on her ankle like the one she had earlier. It was starting again. She scratched her ankle but the more she did, the worse it became. She applied an anti infection cream on the spot but it did not stop. She looked closer at her ankle, two black rashes appeared - they looked so much like finger impressions!

Lisa was starting to get scared now. She didn't know whether to consult a doctor or a priest. But she immediately dressed herself and thought of visiting the doctor.

The rain was starting to pour down heavily now as she drove towards the hospital. The itch was becoming worse and now she had one hand on the steering wheel and the other on her ankle- scratching like a maniac.

Half an hour later ahe reached the hospital and rushed to the reception counter. She immediately asked to see a doctor. Luckily there wasn't any rush at the hospital and the receptionist asked her to wait for a couple if minutes at the waiting room. She sat down on the waiting frantically scratching her itch- her ankle was turning red and the black marks were starting to spread. She was starting to worry if she had contracted any viral disease.

Seconds started to feel like hours now, she was starting to feel cold. It almost felt like the room had turned into one giant refrigerator. She held on to her jacket and rubbed her arms while the itch started to spread up towards her upper leg.

She remembered about the picture she had seen earlier- that strange woman and her black flowing hair, her ghostly eyes...it creeped her out. Suddenly she took out her phone and while shivering terribly, she called her mom.

The phone started to ring for a few seconds and a familiar voice echoed from the other side-

"Hi...honey...I was just thinking about you...so nice of you to call... how's work and how's....", said her mother from the other side.

"Yeah...hi..hi ...mom... I'm good.. Listen I called you about... remember the old photo album you sent me...", said Lisa in a feverish tone.

"Oh..yeah..the one with your cute little pictures...Oh.. so much memories...", replied her mother.

"Yeah..listen mom... there's this old family picture of dad and grandma...and there's this picture of this lady in a long flowing dress...dark hair...", she said.

"Why that's your great aunt Lucinda...oh such a lovely woman...God bless her soul..", said her mother.

"Aunt Lucinda? Why don't I know about her?", asked Lisa.

"Oh sweety you weren't even born...", replied hee mother.

"Mom..how did she die?", asked Lisa.

"Uh...it was a tragedy...there was this fire...but why are you asking me about this all of a sudden... everything all right? Hello? Honey? You there?...", said her mother.

Lisa went speechless, she saw the ghostly image of Lucinda sitting right next to her with bloody pink dress and long hair that covered her face.

She slowly put down her phone and started to shake in fear as she stared at the apparition. The head of the ghost turned towards her and with all her might Lisa jumped away from the chair and ran out of the room. The doctor was just entering but she pushed her aside and ran out of the hospital.

"Church...church...I need a priest..God help me...", she kept saying to herself as he started her car and drove away from the hospital.

She was scared out of her senses. This was the first time she had seen a ghost. It was about six in the evening- the rain was pouring much heavily now and made it hard for her to see the road ahead even with lights on. But she drove as fast as she could on the slippery road. She wasn't into religion and as an adult she never went to a church and kept thinking about where to go.

After fifteen minutes of driving, she saw a vague image of a cross on top of a roof.

"This must be it... that's a church..", she muttered.

But before she could reach the Church, she saw the ghost again- this time standing right in the middle of the road.

Lisa didn't care anymore. She floored the pedal and rushed at the ghostly apparition with full speed.

"Aaaah!!", she cried as she drove slammed the apparition with her car.

But she hit nothing and the apparition disappeared. Instead her car slipped and went off road. She didn't know when her car crashed into the Church gate and turned sideways against an old tree. She went unconscious....

Seconds later, Billy came out of the Church and saw Lisa's car knocked against the tree...

Lisa was in a dream, she saw someone gently picking her up and taking her towards a safe place as the ghost of aunt Lucinda watched from afar...