Dancing with the Dead ✔

Chapter Thirty-Six - Memories

"June? Jude?" I push the door to the house in a careful move.

The door makes a creaking noise as Will and I enter the house. I glance at my watch, it's a little after 1 p.m, which means I have about 3 hours before the fair starts to find whatever it is Jill was hiding here. See, I promised Claire I'll help her with her stall. Now, I'm not much of a baker or a salesperson, but I'm sure I'll make a good cashier.

With the limited time that I have, I decide to head upstairs while hoping the two ghosts are in their room. "June? Jude? Are you here?"

Just as I reach the second floor, the sight of two little children's heads peeking from one of the rooms on my right grabs my attention.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay by yourself?" Will asks.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine," I assure him.

"Just be careful, alright?" Will says before he starts searching around the house. Earlier, Will and I had an arrangement. He will go and search for whatever it was Jill was hiding while I have a little chat with the kids. Once he's out of my sight, I turn my gaze back at the two little ghosts who are now standing in front of me.

"Miss? What are you doing here?" June asks.

"Is Jamie with you?" Jude asks, his eyes light up in an instant.

I shake my head lightly. "No, It's just me and Will," I can tell my answer comes as a disappointment to them. "Sorry."

With a sympathetic half-smile on my face, I approach them. "So..." I stop right in front of the kids. Then, I put my hands on my knees and bend down to match their heights. "I need your help again. Can you help me?"

"Sure," June says with a shrug.

"What do you need, Miss?" Jude asks.

I take out my phone from my bag and search for a photo I took of Jill's memorial mural that James painted. A few days ago, Lucas spoke to principal St. John about the mural and the latter agrees to let James finished it, seeing it as a nice gesture to honor his daughter's memory. When James finally finished it, I decided to take a picture of it since I figured it may be useful for my investigation.

"Have you ever seen this girl?" I show the picture on my phone to them.

"Sure!" June answers quickly to my surprise.

"She's Annie's owner!" Jude adds.

"She used to come here with her friend, the blonde lady, too," June recounts.

"Uh-huh," Jude gives a firm nod. "But the blonde lady hasn't come here for a long time."

"Yeah," June continues, "It was just the brunette. She used to come here every weekend, until that night..." Their expressions slowly turn gloomy and their heads hang low, hinting me at what they might have seen.

"Was it the night the Boogeyman came?" I ask.

They nod slowly. "The Boogeyman hurt her..." Jude continues, his voice softer than before.

"And Annie too..." June adds.

I take a deep breath before I continue, "Why didn't you tell me before?"

"Well, you didn't ask us about her, Miss," Jude replies with innocence in his eyes.

Right. I didn't. I guess I should've asked about her sooner, huh?

"Now, why did you two let her came here every weekend? I thought your parents told you not to let any strangers into your house?" I tease them.

"Bad strangers, Miss," June answers with an innocent smile on her lips.