The Most Magical Halloween

Chapter 1 Darwin Watson turned off the engine and got out of the car. He glanced around at some of the houses that lined both sides of the street in the suburban area of Los Angeles, California. There was nothing out of the ordinary at all. Most of them were two stories high, but some had obviously added an attic at the top. He turned toward his fellow private investigator, Kellan Houghton, before c*****g his head toward the house on their right. He observed the house for a moment longer before making his way toward the front door. He didn’t have to check to see if Kellan was following him. They had been partners for almost three years, starting from Kellan’s first day on the job back when the man was twenty-four years old. Darwin was two years older than Kellan. He had started the private agency on his own for two main reasons: one, he had always been fascinated by the supernatural stuff; and two, and probably the more important reason, a private agency that dealt with the supernatural incidents didn’t have as many competitors. It was more or less a niche market. Kellan caught up with him a few seconds later. “Are we sure that’s the house?” Darwin nodded. “Yeah.” Darwin could still recall how rough the business was at the beginning. He had no clients for the first few months. It was sheer coincidence, and maybe a stroke of good luck, when he had landed his first case by accident. One of his neighbors, Tommy, had purchased an antique painting. Almost immediately, there had been rumors of weird crying sounds coming from Tommy’s apartment late at night. All the neighbors on his floor had been concerned. After all, Tommy and his wife had also recently brought home their firstborn child, a baby girl, from the hospital. The other neighbors were worried something terrible had been happening to the baby every night. After one week of the strange sobbing noise, the management team for the apartment building was forced to confront Tommy and his wife. The team knocked on the door, but there was no answer. They had to open the door with the spare key for the apartment. The management team was shocked to discover Tommy and his wife, along with their newborn daughter, huddling in fear in one corner of the kitchen. When the team had succeeded in calming the couple down, Tommy informed the management about this pale-faced man stepping out from the antique painting in the living room and howling every night. Tommy had gotten rid of the painting twice, but it would always reappear back on the wall on its own. When Darwin had caught wind of this supernatural incident, he was quick to volunteer his services to Tommy. Up to that fateful evening, he had never been aware of his ability to drive away evil spirits. He had expected to do things the old-fashioned way. He had called for the assistance of a well-known psychic, who had been introduced to him by a friend. The psychic was supposed to deal with the spirit. However, it had taken him by surprise when the pale-faced spirit had cowered away from him before disappearing. The spirit had never returned. Darwin had also burned the painting just to make sure there were no loose ends. He had no idea how he got the spirit to go away, but that case had landed him several other supernatural cases. Tommy and his wife had spread word about him to their friends, and their friends had in turn done the same thing by informing their other friends. Since then, he had been overwhelmed by the number of supernatural cases he was offered for the next few months. Most were fake, but there were a few real ones. He was aware he couldn’t handle everything on his own. That was how he had eventually ended up with Kellan as his partner. They worked well together. He trusted Kellan. He had no doubt Kellan would always have his back. He shook himself out of his trip down memory lane and inhaled deeply when he reached the door of the house. Kellan was standing next to him mere seconds later. After that, neither of them uttered another word. Darwin stepped closer to the door before pressing on the bell to its right. He and Kellan didn’t have to wait a long time. He heard someone coming toward the door, and there were a few brief, soft noises from within right before a middle-aged woman opened the door with a slight hesitation. He smiled at the woman before displaying his credentials. Then he introduced himself and his partner. “I’m Darwin Watson, a private investigator of the paranormal,” he said before pointing at Kellan. “This here is my fellow investigator, Kellan Houghton. May I know if I’m speaking to Mrs. Lucinda Taylor?” “Miss,” the middle-aged woman corrected before scooting to one side and allowing the two detectives to make their way into the house. “Come in, please.” “My apologies, Miss Taylor. Thank you. We just have a few questions for you.” Lucinda gestured toward the couch in the living room and invited Darwin and Kellan to take a seat. “May I get you something to drink?” Kellan shook his head. “We appreciate it, but that won’t be necessary. We will try to make this as quick as possible.” “Suit yourself, gentlemen,” Lucinda responded before occupying the single couch herself. “I’ve told you both everything over the phone, but I suppose you want me to recount the whole event again?” Darwin beamed at Lucinda. “Please. That will be helpful. We need to make sure we haven’t missed anything.” Lucinda breathed in deeply as she clasped her hands on her lap. “It happened almost one week ago. It was late in the evening, and it was raining cats and dogs outside. I had just finished eating my dinner right here in this living room. I’ve always enjoyed watching a romantic comedy on the television while eating. Anyway, I digress. As I said, I was done with my meal, so I picked up the dishes and brought them toward the kitchen to wash them. I’ve never left the dirty dishes in the sink. That’s a very unsanitary habit, and I absolutely abhor it. People need to learn to clean up after themselves immediately. It’s called discipline. Now, where was I?” “It was a dark and stormy night, and you were washing the dishes,” Kellan reminded while barely concealing the sarcasm in his tone of voice. Darwin bumped his thigh gently against his partner to warn Kellan to behave in a professional manner. Kellan coughed and cleared his throat, but the man didn’t look repentant. Darwin suppressed a long-suffering sigh and bit his lower lip to prevent himself from telling Kellan off. They got along great most of the time, but he felt Kellan was too relaxed at times, especially when they should be behaving properly. That had led into some pretty intense arguments between the two of them. Fortunately, they liked and respected each other very much, so they never let their differences get in the way of their friendship. “Oh, right,” Lucinda mumbled out loud while bobbing her head up and down a couple of times. “I was scrubbing the dishes with plenty of liquid soap. Nothing strange happened then. Everything was all right. It wasn’t until I grabbed the last plate that I felt it.” Darwin observed Lucinda’s trembling hands with interest. “What did you feel, Miss Taylor?” Lucinda wrung her hands a few times, staring at them with her eyes wider than before, before answering. “I…I will sound like a crazy and delusional person, like a certifiably insane woman, but I thought I felt someone’s hands brushing across the back of my neck. I…I was certain it wasn’t the wind, and neither was I being oversensitive. I really felt the movement. It was light, but I wasn’t imagining it.” “Of course, you weren’t,” Kellan spoke up before turning toward Darwin with mirth in his eyes. Darwin ignored his partner’s sarcastic eye-roll, as well. Then Kellan faced Lucinda once again. “What occurred after that?” Lucinda’s gaze darted all over the floor for a few seconds before she replied to the question. “I…I was shocked. Naturally, I had to check and make sure nobody was standing behind me. There was no one at all, which was the way it was supposed to be. I live alone, after all.” “Is that the only incident?” Darwin prodded while attempting to appear sympathetic to Lucinda’s distress. “Any others?” Lucinda hesitated for a moment. “The same thing repeated two more times. All three of them happened at night, and I noticed they were always around the same time. I’ve never been bothered by those…those entities in the daytime.” “I see,” Kellan muttered under his breath before clearing his throat loudly. Darwin could tell Kellan was about to lose it, so he scooted closer and used his left index and middle fingers to pinch the skin of his partner’s forearm, causing the man to flinch and jerk away a little bit. He ignored Kellan’s dirty look, which was directed at him, and concentrated on Lucinda instead. “Why did you decide to contact our agency?” Lucinda stared at Darwin as if he was an i***t. “The local police force is incompetent and unreliable. I need someone to investigate this important matter promptly. Now, I could have sold this house and moved elsewhere, but I’ve resided here for years. I refuse to let anyone, including the supernatural entities, drive me out of my lovely house.” Darwin suppressed an annoyed sigh. “Is there anything else you can tell us?” Lucinda shook her head. “That’s all there is to it. Would you like to check out the scene of the crime?” Kellan answered before Darwin could do so. “That will be wonderful. Lead the way, please.” Darwin narrowed his eyes at Kellan the moment Lucinda got on her feet and walked toward the direction of the kitchen. He leaned closer to Kellan and whispered at his partner, “What the hell are you playing at?” Kellan snorted. “I’m curious to know how far gone she is. I can’t tell if she’s an excellent but loony storyteller, or if she’s telling the truth.” Darwin scoffed. “We’re partners at a supernatural agency. Why have you agreed to become my partner if you’re such a damn skeptic?” “I’m not,” Kellan insisted before pointing at himself. “You know of my ability, but I hate people like her. She makes people with real powers like me turn into a laughing stock. She sounds like a damn attention-seeker who thinks her delusions are important enough to call in some private detectives to resolve them.” Darwin was about to retort when Lucinda called out from the direction of the kitchen. “Coming, gentlemen?” Kellan snickered softly. “I need to be naked and actually stroking my d**k to achieve that.” Darwin rolled his eyes. “Grow up, man.” Kellan scoffed. “f**k you. You should pull that stick out of your ass once in a while. You’ll be less of a joy-killer that way.” Darwin ignored Kellan and got off the couch. He had no time to play silly, immature games with Kellan at the moment. They had a job to do. He reached the kitchen a moment later. Kellan entered the room right behind him, while Lucinda continued to stand about a feet away from it. There was nothing strange with the room. It was a standard kitchen. There were the stove, a dishwasher, a sink, a refrigerator, an oven, a pantry, a microwave, and several fitted cupboards. He was about to call it a day when he noticed Kellan was rooted on the spot a few inches away from the sink. “K, what—” Kellan grasped his right wrist tightly, cutting him off midsentence, and whispered at him in a hurry. “There’s a woman in here with us.” “Lucinda—” “Not her,” Kellan interrupted in a raspy voice. “Someone else. Her hair is blowing everywhere. She has two rows of sharp teeth and a couple of empty eye sockets. It feels as if she’s staring and sneering at us. Her face has rotted. In fact, I think she’s still decomposing everywhere. She’s wearing a nightgown or something similar. She has sharp claws, too.” Darwin reacted immediately. He grabbed onto Kellan’s face with his other hand to snap his partner’s attention away. He noticed Kellan’s eyes might be looking at him, but it was obvious his partner wasn’t truly there with him. “K, listen! Listen to me. Concentrate on my voice. Ignore her. As long as you’re with me, and we have skin contact, she won’t be able to touch or harm you. Come on, man. Return to me.” Seconds later, Kellan shuddered visibly, and Darwin heaved out a sigh of relief. Then Kellan smiled at him. “Thanks, D.” Darwin shook his head. “We’re partners. I’ll always have your back.” “And I’ll have yours.” Darwin grinned for a second or two before growing serious again. “Is she still there?” Kellan glanced sideways by about an inch before nodding. “Yeah.” Darwin might not be able to see whatever it was Kellan could, but the two of them had been partners long enough. He was aware of the general direction of the invisible woman. He glared in her direction. “You better get lost. I don’t know nor care what your issue is, but you can’t have either one of us.” There was a brief stench of rotten flowers in the room before it disappeared. Darwin knew the entity must be gone the moment Kellan’s tension melted away completely. Kellan breathed deeply before beaming at Darwin. “Thanks. Again.” Darwin chuckled. “Just buy me one round of beer later tonight. We will be even then.” Kellan chortled. “Sure.” The sound of Lucinda’s throat being cleared startled Darwin and Kellan back to the moment. The two of them turned to face Lucinda almost in tandem. “Is there…something in my kitchen?” Kellan shook his head. “Not at the moment.” “But there was something in there earlier, wasn’t there?” Lucinda persisted while glancing around. Darwin nodded. “Let us return to the living room. We have something to discuss.” Lucinda agreed. However, once the three of them were back on the couch, Lucinda didn’t give them the chance to explain anything. She seemed excited. “Are you sure nothing is in my kitchen now?” Kellan leaned forward. “Yes, but that’s not the important part. Do you know of someone who has a real ability to remove a dark entity? There was a female spirit in your kitchen. It’s gone for now, but we don’t know how long before she will come back. Anyway, if you don’t know of anyone who can assist you in this matter, Darwin and I can give you a few recommendations. You have to take care of this as soon as possible.” Lucinda was quiet for a moment. “I think there’s one such person a couple of blocks away, but I’m open to any suggestions you may have for me.” “Sure.” Darwin took out a few name cards from his shirt pocket and passed them over to Lucinda. “All those people will be able to assist you. They work on a freelance basis for our agency. Call them up. My ability isn’t a certainty. It comes and goes. I don’t know how to use it. Kellan and I have been lucky so far. We either lucked out and managed to get rid of the spirits on our own, or found someone else to collaborate with us. In your case, I suggest we call in someone who has a sure-fire way of dealing with a supernatural entity because finding the right person to rid your house of this evil spirit will be your best bet.” Lucinda glanced at all the cards before grinning widely at both Darwin and Kellan. “Oh, I will. This is so thrilling.” Darwin wouldn’t label anything supernatural, especially when there was an evil entity involved, as being thrilling, but he bit back his scathing retort. Instead, he simply stood and tugged Kellan up at the same time. “Kellan and I will take our leave now. I’m sorry we can’t do much more for you, but our task is mainly to investigate before we return with the right person in tow, and that’s only if the client wants us to do so. There are people out there who will play around with us, and we can’t have that. After all, some people have real, more urgent issues we have to focus on.” Lucinda beamed widely as she stood. “Of course, detectives. I understand. Thank you for stopping by and everything else. I’ll keep you updated.” Darwin shrugged. “You’re welcome, but you don’t have to inform us of the development of this case if you use one of the people who works for us. He or she will submit a report to us at a later date. Good luck with everything. Kellan and I will see ourselves out.” Lucinda insisted, though. Darwin was thankful she didn’t start rambling at them. He wanted to get away from the house. Kellan obviously thought the same. A few minutes later, the two of them were inside the car and on their way back to the office. They were glad this trip didn’t turn into one of those fake reports from a civilian. They had wasted enough time in the past on such calls. Working in the supernatural field, their caseloads weren’t heavy in terms of the numbers, and the levels of danger they had to face weren’t that horrible, but Darwin loved his job. The cases, when they were real, were always interesting. He couldn’t wait to hear back from Lucinda just in case she decided to use the person she knew instead of those who freelanced for the agency. If that happened, he and Kellan would have to pay Lucinda a visit and obtain as much information from her as she could provide. The follow-up should keep him busy and entertained for at least a week. This particular case seemed similar to some of his and Kellan’s past cases. It would be easy enough to take care of it. They should have a satisfying resolution soon.