Haunted House Flipper

Chapter 9

I thought long and hard about what I should do. I wanted to just walk away and leave the weird creepy world of spirits and magical tools behind me, but I also saw an opportunity. I'd like to say that this is when I saw the light and decided to change my ways. You would think after seeing proof the spiritual realm is real and being told I was chosen by God to use magical tools I would have the desire to turn my life around and become a good person. Yeah, that happened later.

I had always wanted to become a house flipper. Then I wouldn't have to deal with clients anymore, until I was ready to sell the house. I thought long and hard. I put on the magical glasses, and looked at the angel sword. I saw something in it. I saw money.

I knew the tools were meant to be used in the service of others, but I only knew how to serve myself back then and so that's what guided my decision. I was going to find a way to get rid of that demon all right, but I was going to do it so I could flip that mansion and make a huge profit from it. I took the glasses off and looked at the pastor.

"I think I'll keep the tools for now," I said.

He smiled.

"Like I said, God works in mysterious ways."

"I'll take your word for it."

At the time I wasn't quite sure what he was talking about, but now I know he is a wise man. I think he could see in my eyes that I had selfish plans for the tools. If I would have known that at the time I would have been surprised he didn't ask to have them back so God could choose someone else to use them. Now, however, I have come to see that he always has faith, and even though he knew I planned on using the tools for my own selfish gain, he believed God would still use them through me for his good purposes. I have really come to admire the man's faith.

"Well, thank you for meeting me," I said.

"Of course Mr. Cincinnati. I'm always here so if there's ever anything I can do to help you, or if there's ever anything you want to talk about, please don't hesitate to come back and see me," Pastor Clarke said.

I stood.

"Thank you Pastor."

I suddenly was a very giddy at the opportunities before me with this magical sword. Now it was time to see if my paltry savings would be enough to change my career from a realtor to a house flipper. I left the pastors office and walked back down to the sanctuary. Claire was there continuing her enormous vacuuming job. This time she was facing the door so she saw me come in. She turned the vacuum off and smiled at me. Her smile was insanely infectious and somehow it made my grinch of a heart warm even back then.

"Hi Claire," I said.

"Hi Ray. Was the pastor able to help you?" she said.

A huge grin, that I'm sure it looked a little evil, formed on my face. I'm glad Claire didn't know my intentions at the time.

"So do you know about the tools?" I said.

"Oh yeah. The pastor showed me them a long time ago. Pretty amazing, right?" Claire asked.

"Yeah. You're not kidding. By the way, you might want to look at replacing the ladder in there."

"Oh, no way! That old thing is amazing. Really adds to the ambience of that dusty old secret hidden room down there, don't you think?" Claire said.

"Yeah, there is that, but it looks like it's one use away from breaking," I said.

"Oh no. That things got a bunch of wood glue and screws in all the right places. I just painted over it, and even did a little distressing to make it blend well so you can't tell the latter has been refurbished," Claire said.

I laughed.

"Wow you really get into it."

"Oh yeah."

"I was convinced. You've got a lot of talent, and like I said, this church is gorgeous. I can tell it's really old, but it looks great," I said.

"Well thank you. I take pride in my work. Especially here."

"I can see that. So now that I know that God is real and he chose me to use these tools, it gave me an idea."

"Oh yeah? What's that?"

"Well, I'm a realtor but I've always wanted to be a house flipper. I just figured that after I use the tools to rid a place of demons, I might as well continue the job and restore the house's physical beauty as well," I said.

"Yeah, that's not a bad idea."

"You like it? Because I came across this gorgeous mansion."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yes. I noticed it was for sale by owner, so I gave the guy a call. I've always loved architecture, especially in large residences and churches like this one. I told the guy that I wanted to help him sell his house. He laughed and said others have tried but no one wants to buy it."

"Is it too run down?" Claire asked.

"No I don't think so. He said that no one will buy it because it's haunted."

I was expecting Claire to laugh like I wanted to when I heard that news, but instead she got a real serious look on her face. I guess now I know why. I started talking again to break the awkward silence.

"Well, I thought that was ridiculous and so last night I went to the house to have a look around inside after he told me where the key was and said I could go in. I wanted to get a feel for the house and try and guess what needed to be done to it and how much it could sell for," I said.

"Wow. I would not have gone into a house that people say is haunted. Especially not at night," Claire said.

"Yeah, I'll probably never do that again, but I'm used to going into creepy old houses at night. My days are usually booked with showing people houses, so it's a good time for me to appraise new ones."

Claire must've known where I was going next because she said, "but?"

"But as I went into the house through the back door, I felt something pull on the magic sword at my hip. I realize that the sword went through everything and so that whatever had pulled on it must've been something I didn't want to meet. I ran out of the house and as I closed the door behind me I saw a demon."

She grabbed my arm.

"You're kidding."

I shook my head.

"I didn't know what it was at the time, because there's a ghost story about the owner's great great grandfather traipsing around the house with a sword."

I told her the rest of the story about the man's death from a burglar.

"Wow that's creepy," Claire said.

"It really is. I ran out of there faster than I've ever run in my life."

She realized her hand was still holding my arm and gripping it tight now. She dropped her hand to the side and looked away with an embarrassed grin.

"Sorry."

"Don't worry about it. Claire I've got a question for you."