I Am Chosen

Trespass

J.D. sat at the library, going through microfilm of local newspapers from the time of the asylum shootings.

The more he read, the more convinced he became that there was a direct link between the events of 1930 and the Chosen Killings. What he found most interesting was the fact that the miners had ended up in Pleasant Hills Asylum, while in present day, people who uttered the words "I Am Chosen" and committed homicide also ended up in an asylum—the key difference being, the miners had been capable of speaking. They weren't catatonic like the Chosen killers.

But the miners had died—killed by the Winchester gun. The gun Haley had believed to be capable of dispatching the agents of some nameless evil intelligence, a malevolent force that had been banished to slumber beneath the earth.

Beneath the earth... miners... the coal mines...

Pieces were starting to fall into place. J.D. was becoming more and more convinced that the miners had seen or come into contact with something deep underground that had driven them insane. Perhaps the same "something" that had tormented Tom Haley in his final hours.

And now, it seemed, that "something" was back.

There was an interview with the asylum doctor, who confided that the miners spoke of a "Twilight Convocation," and an "Emanant Revival."

Whatever those terms referred to, the Winchester rifle had effectively put an end to them.

Again, until now.

So if this malevolent entity had reemerged, what if the "Chosen" were meant to basically take the place of the miners—do whatever they had been meant to do? Maybe the fact that the miners were capable of speaking was what had gotten them killed... and maybe the "presence" had learned from that.

All interesting theories. As J.D. continued flipping through slides he came to a photo, of police officers standing near a body. Graffiti covered the wall behind them.

If there had been any doubt in J.D.'s mind about the connection between the 1930 asylum slayings and the Chosen Killings, it was now completely erased.

There was a word among the graffiti, so small as to be barely intelligible. A single word:

"Chosen."

"The Coolidge Estate?" Hollis asked again from behind the wheel.

"That's what I said, yes," Kacey responded. "Remember the estate manager telling us that a sinkhole had opened up on the property? I guarantee that's because the mines run underneath."

"And, that was where Crowe attacked us, I know..."

"And then disappeared," Kacey said. "Vanished. Well I think I've got an idea how he did it."

Twenty minutes later they were walking up to the Coolidge Estate's main gate. Once again Hollis had parked far enough away to not have his license caught by the gate camera. Kacey carried the Winchester, hanging from a shoulder strap beneath her long coat. When they reached the gate, Kacey pressed the call button on the stone column next to it and waited.

No response. She pressed the button again...

Nothing.

She turned to Hollis: "Dude, when's the last time you scaled a wall?"

After hopping down on the other side of the wall Kacey retrieved the rifle from the wall's top and waited for Hollis to lug his old ass over. It took a while, and he was red-faced and huffing when he finally came down. Automatic and solar lights throughout the property had come on, as well as the lights in the main house, several yards away.

As they proceeded to the manor, Kacey looked through her cell phone's recent call list. "I'm gonna try that chick... what was her name, Valerie?" Kacey found the number and hit the call button. The other end rang but there was no answer.

When Hollis and Kacey finally made it to the main home's front doors, she reached out and rang the doorbell. They could see through the home's many picture windows that it looked vacant inside. An eerie stillness permeated the estate in its entirety.

"Where's the staff?" Hollis asked.

"Maybe they were let go?" Kacey offered. Hollis reached out and turned the handle of the main door. It was unlocked. He and Kacey shared a look, then stepped inside.

The only sound within the massive, open space was the tapping of their footsteps on the tile.

"Hello?" Kacey called. "Valerie?"

"Try her phone again," Hollis suggested.

Shrugging, Kacey complied. A second after she hit the green call button a classical music ringtone drifted to them from somewhere deeper in the house.

Hollis had his jacket pulled aside, hand hovering over his backup gun as he led the way. They struck a path through the wide halls and high ceilings before finally making it to a formal dining room. There were papers spread across the gigantic table; Valerie's phone sat atop it as well, just in front of a chair that had been pulled away.

"I don't like the look of this," Kacey said.

"Yeah, me neither." Hollis responded. "You said you knew where the entrance to the coal mines was..."

"This way," Kacey said, slipping out of her right coat sleeve to free up the Winchester.

She led this time, taking Hollis past the hallway where the floor had been rotted from water damage, where the Declan-thing had fallen through, and on to the stairs leading down to the sub-level.

It was here that they had lost Crowe; where he had seemingly vanished without a trace. Kacey continued into the giant recreation room with its arcades and pool tables and air hockey and... dart board.

The dart at the roadhouse, the one that had missed and fallen to the floor a few hours ago had been what called this place to mind. Kacey remembered that when she had entered this room, there had been a dart on the floor. It had stood out to her; everything else in its place, perfectly maintained except for that one dart...

And that same dart was lying on the floor now.

Kacey walked over to it, transferred the rifleto her left hand, and picked it up. She eyed the board as Hollis waited,clearly confused. Drawing closer to the board, Kacey saw it: a hole in themiddle of the bull's-eye. She took the dart, inserted it into the hole andheard a click. Something in the hole receded and then popped back, ejecting thedart. There was a sound of machinery behind the wall just as the entire sectionbearing the dart board rumbled and shifted back, swinging inward and revealingstairs that descended into darkness.     

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I'm sure heading down those steps would be perfectly safe. What horrors lurk beneath Coolidge Estate? Join me in one week to find out!