Haunted

Haunted By Sunny Wolfe




Chapter 1 – Roman



I was checked out at the hospital. The staff had been gracious to me and Beth. The hospital staff, along with the police department, put our rooms off to the end of a hall with a guard standing watch. I was anxious to talk to Beth, but the police were in my room, and I didn’t think it would look good to say, “I need to talk to my girlfriend first before I talk to you, and oh, I know she is married to someone else right now but we are in love.” I’d just wait.

The police took my statement. They said everything looked on the up and up and clearly everything looked like self-defense. They informed me they tried to talk to Ms. Lowe, but she wasn’t doing well. All she could say was “It happened so fast.” I was glad Beth remembered what I told her, but I was extremely worried about her, and I wanted to walk over to her room to check on her. The police said I had to look through some mug shots before they could let me rest. They needed to get an APB out on Andrew and it didn’t take me very long to spot him in the book.

Finally, the police left and I could go see Beth. As I was getting out of my hospital bed, I heard a loud booming voice in the hallway.

“Where is Beth Lowe?”

“Uh ma’am, I don’t believe Ms. Lowe is up for guests right now unless it’s immediate family.”

“Look, I am her f*cking family!”

I peered outside the hospital room. I knew Beth’s parents died fifteen years ago and the only family she had was Joey and technically Eric since the divorce was still in motion. I had no idea who this could be, unless it was Phoebe and Eve with a little girl in tow. The police only had orders to keep out the press and, of course, Andrew. I wondered how that f*cker had gotten away. I’d strangled him pretty hard and I swore I thought I’d shut the cell door.

“Ma’am—” the nurse interjected.

“Can’t you tell we are her twin sisters? Now get out of the way. She needs us.”

The taller woman had to be Phoebe, the one giving the attitude to the nurse. She was blond with dark highlights in her hair. The other must be Eve with black hair and a pierced eyebrow. She was quiet, but I could tell she wouldn’t cave either. Phoebe turned and walked into Beth’s room. I felt a little jealous that they were able to see her first. I hadn’t even seen her since we’d left Tate’s house.

That’s when several things happened at once. First, I heard Phoebe say, “What the hell happened to your hair?” and then I heard Beth let out a blood curdling scream. On instinct I ran as fast as I could to Beth’s room. I even beat the nurse on her way there. I pushed past Phoebe and Eve and ran to Beth’s bed. She was screaming with her hands covering her face while rocking back and forth. I grabbed her by the shoulders and spoke.

“Beth, look at me. Beth, it’s me Roman. Look. At. Me.”

She looked up. Her appearance was so different. Apparently, while I was with the police, someone was able to wash her because her blue hair was straight and all the doll makeup was gone, thank goodness.

“What’s wrong, baby? Tell me.”

“Dddddd…” she mumbled.

I turned toward her friends and swiftly looked them over. I knew what was wrong with her right away once I looked at the little girl. No one else would, but I did. No one had told Eve and Phoebe what had happened to Beth. I looked down at the little girl holding a doll—a nice porcelain doll, the kind that Jason had in his room. I couldn’t imagine how many times that was all she had to stare at while he had her tied to that f*cking bed.

“Phoebe,” I spoke. “You need to take your daughter and her doll out into the hall.”

“What?” Phoebe looked at me as though she was going to pound my head with her purse. Obviously, Phoebe felt I had no right to tell her to go anywhere. I looked imploringly to Eve. I knew she was the cool headed one from the stories that Beth told me.

“Eve, Beth had some…trauma from the kidnapping. I will explain everything if you just get them out of the room. Please, for Beth.”

Eve’s eyes widened. I knew they had no idea what happened to Beth, but from the tone of my voice, Eve gathered something horrible had happened to her friend and she moved as quick as lightning.

“Come on, Phoebe. Let’s just wait out in the hall for a second or two. Beth looks like she could use a breather, and I’m sure that Roman will let us in on everything we need to know.”

I bowed my head in thanks to Eve as she took Phoebe’s shoulders and escorted her out of the room. As they were leaving, I heard Phoebe say a few choice words.

“Where does Mr. Roman Reed get off on telling me what to do with my best friend? Who the hell does he think he is? I don’t give a flying f*ck if he is her favorite singer or not. He looks like a pompous ass to me. It’s his fault she’s even here.”

“Phoebe, that’s not fair. You don’t even know the whole story yet. He was the one who was held captive with her. He knows what she’s been through. We need to respect that and wait until we can hear his side of the story. Just give him a chance…yeah?” I heard her say to Phoebe outside the door.

The nurse was waiting to come in. She watched the whole scene play out. She gave a warm smile to me and then to Beth.

“Ms. Lowe, I am going to give you something that will help you calm down.”