Once Bound Always Bound

Chapter 13

Everyone settled down in the living room trying hard to fall asleep, only to find doing so, very difficult.

Gabbie glanced over at Travis, noticing that he had managed to finally drift off to sleep. Gabbie got up, making her way over to Travis covering him with a blanket, unaware that Ben was standing behind her, watching her every move.

"You're a great mother to him," Ben said startling Gabbie.

Gabbie turned around to face Ben with an unsure look on her face. "Thank you. I truly appreciate your kind words, but I still feel like I'm not doing enough to keep Travis safe. When I purchased this house, I did so with the intention of getting a fresh start with my son. This house was supposed to help us heal from the loss of Travis' father. Instead, it feels like it's only bringing more pain to my son and I."

"Don't think like that. You are doing the best you can. Everyone who takes a glance at you can see that. Your intentions were good when you purchased this house," Ben said.

"I purchased this house, because it was within my budget. This was supposed to be a project for Travis and I. We were supposed to work on fixing this old mansion up and make it more our own. But instead, when I purchased this mansion, I unknowingly signed up to be haunted by something sinister. I never wanted this for Travis,"" Gabbie said while trying to hold back the tears. "Things were a lot different when my husband was alive. He always found a way to make light of any situation like this."

"I kind of know what you mean. Before my wife died, I always felt like no matter what, I could take on the world. And if things got too bad, my wife was always there for me. She always had my back no matter what. I even remember the day that she surprised me, that was the very day that my wife and I found out that we would be parents for the first time. The joy that she had on her face. It was pure joy. All my wife would ever talk about was wanting to start a family. It was a dream of hers. But things didn't turn out the way we planned. An earthquake happened. And the place we were staying at, it collapsed while my wife was making her way out of the building. My wife and my unborn child didn't make it. After I lost them, I quit photography, hung the camera up, and started doing haunted ghost tours," Ben said.

"I'm sorry about your wife and unborn child. I can't begin to even think about the paint hat you had to go through from losing both of them. If anything happened to my son, I would be completely lost. I would feel like I would no longer have a purpose to remain on earth," Gabbie said.

"Well, you don't have to worry about that. Because nothing bad will ever happen to Travis. Not while I'm around. We will get all the answers we're looking for, and we will put an end to the evil spirit who torments both the living and the dead," Ben said in reassurance.

"Thank you. Even though you don't want to be here, I truly appreciate all of your help," Gabbie said before giving Ben a smile.

Ben smiled back, before his thoughts wondered back to the young woman who tried to convince him to stay. "Hey Gabbie, is it alright if I ask you a question that has been bothering me for quite some time now?"

"Sure, what is it that you want to ask me," Gabbie asked.

"That young woman, the one who told me that the spirits were crying out for help. Do you know her personally," Ben asked.

"I actually don't know her personally. I met her when I arrived. She's honestly a sweet woman from what I had gathered, when I talked to her. She told me to respect the spirits in the house and they will respect me," Gabbie explained.

"But she failed to mention the one spirit that is going around, tormenting all of the others in the house. Don't you happen to find that to be a bit odd," Ben asked.