Radley's Home for Horny Monsters, Annabelle Hawthorne [howl and other poems TXT] 📗

“She’s a ghost,” Abella replied. “A very angry, nasty ghost. She was put in the doll a long time ago by...” Abella stopped and stared into the distance for several seconds. “Anyway, the hope was that someday she would fit in, but it never happened. As time marched on, she got meaner and meaner. One of the previous caretakers locked her in the Vault, after she escaped last time.”

“The Vault? What the fuck is the Vault?” Mike asked.

“Vault for bad things. No go in Vault,” Tink informed him.

“That... fine, we’ll discuss later. She’s inside of Beth right now, and she said something about Beth being inside the doll instead.”

“That’s the gist of it,” Abella said. “It isn’t easy, but if the conditions are right, Jenny can possess a body. The only way to get her to go back is to kill the host. She doesn’t want to move on, so she will swap back at the last second.”

“Absolutely not!” Mike yelled, horrified. “We don’t just kill people! Especially not people we know!”

Abella shrugged. “It’s what we did last time.”

Mike looked at Cecilia. “You can’t just pull her out?”

Cecilia shook her head. “No more than I could pull you out of your body. Once Jenny is knocked loose from her host, she will go back into the doll. I can’t remove her from there either. I’ve tried. Our best option is to trap her back in the doll and then put her in the Vault.”

Furniture crashed inside, and all four of them turned to look.

“If we can get her into the garden, Naia may be able to help,” Abella offered. “She has magic, right?”

“Sounds like we have a job to do,” Mike muttered. “How do we get her outside?”

“She’s overtly sensitive. She isn’t used to a human body anymore. You saw what happened when she heard me scream. Use bright lights, loud noises, anything that can get her out.” Cecilia looked at Abella. “If you watch from up above, you can tackle her when she comes out.”

“I’m on it.” Spreading her wings wide, Abella leapt upward and disappeared onto the roof.

“I can help with sound, but you’re going to need to find some way to make noise on your own, or blind her with a light,” the banshee said.

“Ok, let’s do this.” Mike opened the door and stepped into the front room. Tink and Cecilia followed. Already, they could see that the furniture in the front and side rooms had been strewn about.

“Do you think we should split up?” Mike asked.

“Absolutely not,” Cecilia declared. “Unless you want to end up dead.”

“Why would she want to kill me?” Mike asked.

“You obviously did something to hurt her feelings. Emily let her out of the Vault once in an attempt to make peace with her, but Jenny trashed the room she was in because the curtains got left closed and she couldn’t see outside. She also likes to try to possess you if you fall sleep, but that doesn’t always work. If she can knock you out, she may take off in your body.”

“Too bad I left my helmet in my other house with all my other monsters,” Mike muttered.

The front room had been torn apart, all except for the doll. Its sad eyes looked into Mike’s when he picked it up. Staring at the creepy little doll, Mike wondered if it was wearing any underwear.

“Bring it with us,” Cecilia said, hovering over the mess. “The last thing we want is for her to hide it away in case she does go back.”

“So where exactly is this Vault?” Mike asked. He moved carefully into the kitchen. Seeing that it was empty, he grabbed his cellphone and pulled a flashlight out of the junk drawer.

“Basement,” Tink said, taking the flashlight. “Tink go there all time. Make sure stay locked.”

“What else-never mind. I’ll ask later.” Mike wondered what else would be stored away in the Vault. Was Jenny just one of many dolls? Were there giant cages, lining the walls of the Vault, filled with every manner of bad monster?

A loud bang from upstairs grabbed their attention. Tink ran ahead of Mike and began hopping up the stairs as best she could with her little legs. Mike actually picked her up for the last few steps-it was faster for them both if he did. Cecilia hovered up the main entryway, her feet not quite touching the floor when she landed beside them.

All of the bedroom doors were still closed, but an icy draft made Mike turn his head.

“This one,” he said, grabbing the doorknob. It was cold to the touch. He pushed the door inward and found himself looking at the blue room, the one that Beth had said his dad probably stayed in. It was an odd thought, so suddenly, but had his dad stayed here? If so, had the monsters remained hidden, or did he simply forget about them?

The room looked untouched, with the exception of the the closet door, which stood open, an icy wind emanating from it. Moving close, he opened up the flashlight app on his phone and pointed it at the closet. Stepping wide around the closet door, his jaw dropped once he saw inside.

“What the fuck is this?!?” Instead of an empty shelf with a bar for clothing, Mike was staring into a cave. “There is no fucking way that there’s a cave here! We're on the second floor!”

“It make head hurt,” Tink agreed. “But hurt head change nothing. We go. Me see just fine.”

“I’ll wait out here,” Cecilia said. “In case she tries to come back out. Be careful.”

“But...I...”

Tink grabbed a handful of Mike’s pants and pulled him into the cave. He ducked his head to avoid the hard rock up above. “Did you know about this, Tink?”

“Tink know. House have secrets. Make no sense, but Tink accept.” She slid her goggles over her eyes. “Tink see prints.”

“I’m glad one of us sees something.” Mike was busy looking at the random doodles on the walls. Some of