The Enchanted Elm: Unjust Accusations and Haunted Hunts

Chapter 7

Two Months Later...

"Thomas!" Ellie yells, "Come here! I need your help!"

Thomas comes sprinting into Ellie's art studio. "What? What's wrong? Are you hurt?"

"No, I need help reaching something."

"Ellie!" he scolds, "Don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry, will you help me?"

"Yes, what do you need?"

"Could you reach for those paint brushes for me? They're up on that shelf." She points to them. "I would get them myself, but knowing me I'll probably fall and hurt myself."

He sighs. "I'll get them for you. I need a chair."

"There's one over there." She points at the chair. "Be careful. It's kind of heavy." He walks over to the chair and picks it up with ease. "Show off," she murmurs, "just because you can lift it easily doesn't make it easy for everyone to lift. It was heavy for me."

"What are you pouting about now?"

"Nothing..."

"Ellie!"

"That chair...it is heavy, at least to me."

"What? Ellie, what are you talking about?"

"Just because it's easy for you to lift doesn't mean..." Tears start to stream down her face.

"Aww, Ellie. Come here, I didn't mean to upset you. It's easy for me to lift because I weigh more than you. You're very strong for your weight. Please, don't cry. I'm sorry." He pulls her into his chest. "Shh, it's okay. I'm sorry."

She sniffles. "You really think so?"

"Think what?"

"That I'm strong?"

"I mean yeah. You can lift things that are more than half your weight. That chair is probably half of my weight, which is why it's so heavy for you."

(sniffle) (sniffle) "Okay. I'm sorry, my hormones are all over the place."

He smiles at her and carefully stands on the chair and grabs the paintbrushes. He hops down and hands them to her. "It's alright, it's not your fault. There you go. Whatcha working on?"

"You wanna see?" She takes his hand and leads him to a half painted canvas. "See? Do you like it? It's not done, but it's pretty, isn't it?"

"Yeah, what are you painting?"

"You can't tell?"

"No! That's not it! I'm just asking. It looks like a box with some kittens in it. Those kittens look very similar to some kittens I know. Are you painting our kittens?"

"Yeah, they're not kittens anymore though. I think I'm going to finish this painting and then I'm going to paint them all grown."

"Really? That's cool. I wish I could paint like you. I guess art isn't one of my talents."

"That's okay! You have other talents!

"Like what?"

Like...like...um...I can't think of any right now, but you do!"

He laughs. "I know. I'm just teasing you." He stands up. "I'll come get you if Kara calls or if I need anything. Come and find me if you need anything."

"I will." Thomas leaves the room. About an hour later, Thomas comes running into the room again. "Thomas?" Ellie asks, "What's wrong?"

"Kara!" he answers frantically, "She needs us now!"

Ellie stands up and follows Thomas out to the car. Once they're in the car and Thomas is driving them to the station, Ellie asks," Thomas, what's wrong? Is Kara hurt? What's going on?"

"I don't know!" he answers, "She just called me and said that she needed us! She sounded scared! We're here!"

They leave the car and rush into the station. "Kara!" Ellie shouts, "Where are you?" She continues to walk until she's near Kara's office. "Kara?" She walks up to the door and knocks. "Are you in there? Kara, I'm coming in, okay?" She tries to open the door, but it doesn't budge. "Kara, stand back, okay? I'm breaking the door down." She backs up and takes a running start before jumping up and kicking the door knob. She repeats this process until the door is broken.

She pushes the debris of the door out of the way. She gasps when she sees what's happening inside. Kara's on the floor, barely conscious, with a masked man on top of her. Her arms and legs are tied together. "Hey!" Ellie yells, "Leave her alone!" She jumps onto the man and starts to fight him.

The fight doesn't last long, as the man pins her against the wall quite easily. "Stay out of my way or else!" he warns her. He lets her go and she falls to the floor.

She slowly stands and says, "Or what? You gonna kill me? You gonna torture me until I'm unconscious? You gonna force yourself on me? Sorry, mister, but those things have already happened to me. I'm not going to stand by and let my friend go through the same thing."

"Stay out of my way!" He throws something at her. She's knocked over. She tries to move, but she can't.

"What did you do? What is this? Get it off me!" The masked man turns his attention back to Kara. "No! Don't touch her! You can do whatever you want with me, just don't touch her!" He turns and faces Ellie.

"Anything?" he asks.

"Anything," she answers, "anything at all."

"Including killing you?" He lunges at her with a knife in hand. The knife slices through the object that holds Ellie to the wall.

"I'm afraid not. The only person who's here that'll die is you." He slashes his knife into her. She begins to bleed, the blood slowly turns her shirt red. Eventually it starts to drip onto the floor. She tilts her head. "You think a few slashes will kill me? Sorry, mister, but it'll take more than that. Try again."

The man dives the knife into her side. Silence follows. He removes the knife and stabs the other side of her body. "What the hell is wrong with you? You need to scream in pain."

"But mister...it doesn't hurt. Don't you understand? I like pain. I've always liked it, ever since someone murdered my parents! It's my turn now!" She takes a knife, hidden in plain sight from her clothing. She throws it and it pins him to the wall. She continues to throw knives at him until he's pinned up nice and tight. "Now, then," she whispers, "where should we start? "Oh, I know!" She walks over to him and makes a clean cut across his stomach with the knife.

"Ow! That hurts!" he yells.

She ignores him and digs the knife into his side. He screams. "Is this painful for you? But it's the same thing you were doing to me. Why should I stop? You didn't, neither will I." She continues to dig the knife deeply into the man's skin. He continues to scream.

Eventually Thomas runs in. "Ellie," he says, "What are you..." He sees the man pinned against the wall. He sees blood gushing from the wounds on his body. He sees the blood soaked floor. In the middle of it all is Ellie, who's shirt is stained with blood.

"Thomas?" she whispers, "Look what he did to Kara." She points to Kara, who's still unconscious on the floor.

"Oh my god! Ellie, is she okay?"

"Yeah, she's fine. I checked her pulse. It's still strong. She's just unconscious. Will you call an ambulance for her? I'm going to finish this, then I'll meet you out front."

"Okay." He kneels down and carefully lifts Kara up, then he carries her out of the room.

Ellie turns back to the masked man. "Now then, are you ready to die?"