The Haunting at Grays Harbor (The River Book 8) by Michael Richan Page A

call you this morning,” Barbara said,
worried, but relieved. “We had to leave. Couldn’t take it anymore. At least we
all got a decent night’s sleep last night – first one in weeks.”
    “That’s good,” Steven replied, wondering just how sleep deprived
Barbara and her family had become in order to benefit from the hard beds at the
motel. “Did something new happen?”
    “Things have been so bad,” she replied. “Ever since May came
down from the attic.”
    “She was in the attic?” Roy asked, concerned.
    “After we went up there the other day, when you were over, I
left the ladder down after your visit. When I went back upstairs, I put it
away, but I didn’t realize May had climbed up. So I basically trapped her up
there, until I heard her pounding on the ceiling door, poor thing.”
    “Things got worse after that?” Steven asked.
    “Much worse,” Barbara replied. “She’d only been locked up
there a half an hour, but she was completely freaked out. She kept calling him
the ‘needle man,’ saying he was chasing her around the attic, trying to stick
her. I thought once she was down with us, out of the attic, she’d feel better,
but she didn’t. She said she kept seeing him, all through the house – standing
behind a plant, sitting in a chair, walking into whatever room she was playing
in. She’d scream and run, and she wouldn’t stop. And I swear to god I must have
killed a hundred spiders while I was trying to deal with her. They were coming
out of the woodwork. I finally said to hell with it, loaded the girls in the
car, and we drove here. Been fine ever since. No spiders, no needle man.”
    “I wonder if May touched the rod,” Roy said to Steven.
    “That thing in the attic?” Barbara asked.
    “We’ve made contact with someone who’s going to help,” Steven
said, “but he won’t be here until tomorrow. He’s driving up from Utah.”
    “Oh!” Barbara said, surprised.
    “The one thing he told us to do, in the meantime, was to not
touch that rod,” Roy said. “Said things would get much worse if we did.”
    “Oh, no,” Barbara said. “She might have. I don’t know.”
    “Can we ask her?” Steven said.
    “Sure, they’re up in the room,” Barbara said. “I need to get
back and check on them. Why don’t you come with me, and I’ll ask her.”
    They followed Barbara back into the motel and down a short
hallway to her room. Inside they found Georgina and May playing on the floor
between the two beds, toys strung around them. Steven noticed that Georgina
looked noticeably less stressed than the last time they’d seen her. She was
smiling and open, and quick to say hello when she saw them.
    “May?” Barbara asked, kneeling down next to where the little
child was playing.
    “Yes?” she replied.
    “Do you remember when you were up in the attic yesterday? Did
you see that long rod floating in the attic? The one with the coil turning
around it?”
    “Yes,” she said demurely.
    “Did you touch it?” Barbara asked.
    Steven saw the little girl look up at him and over to Roy,
checking in advance to see if she was in trouble or not. Steven tried to give
her his most pleasant, non-threatening smile.
    “Yes,” she said. “It shocked me.”
    Barbara turned to look at Steven. “It was right after she
came down from the attic that things got so bad we had to leave,” she said. “So
your friend from Utah was right.”
    “Are you going to help us?” Georgina asked, looking up at
Steven.
    “We’re going to try!” Steven said. “We want you to be able to
go back to your house.”
    “I don’t want to go back,” May said. “He sticks me with
needles!” She looked like she was about to cry.
    “We won’t go back unless he’s gone,” Barbara said, reaching
down to console the child. “Steven and Roy are going to see if they can make
him go away for good.”
    This seemed to satisfy the little girl, and a smile returned
to her face as Georgina began to play with her.