Watching the police that night Tim had tried to kill him, Walter came to a decision. He wanted to be a cop. His school records were perfect so it was easy for him to get into the academy. While going through training, Walter knew it was the perfect decision. He felt at home in a uniform. All throughout the academy, Walter kept to himself and had perfect attendance. While the other cadets went to clubs at night, Walter stayed in his dorm alone, working on his grades.

The academy was located in South Carolina, a mere twenty minutes away from the beach. Walter had only gone to the beach one time when the entire academy went together for graduation.

Walter graduated the top of his cla.s.s and was immediately placed as a highway patrolman. He did his time and when he took the detective's exam, he pa.s.sed on the first try; of course, he had made a friend or two along the way to put in a good word for him.

The police station was in Rapshure and before long he'd befriended the Chief of Police, Donald Harrison.

The two were close, always spending time together at night, talking over beers. Some nights Walter found himself staying at Donald's house, the two soon becoming lovers. They hid their love away from the rest of the police station of course, knowing no one else would understand. Walter felt happy once again.

One night that changed when he was alone in the bathroom at Donald's house. As he ran himself a shower, the steaming water turned red and there she was.

A little red-haired girl was sitting on the edge of the bathtub. She was giggling and pointing at Walter; he stared at her, not believing his eyes, and went to touch her to see if she was real.

His hand pa.s.sed through her small form and her giggling increased. The sound seemed to ring throughout his ears.

Then she was quiet.

"Who are you?" Walter asked her as if she might answer him and to his surprise she did. And what she said would change everything once again. "I'm your daughter, Daddy," she said, smiling at him and showing off her perfectly straight white teeth.

"Daughter?" he questioned.

"Yes, Daddy."

"How? You don't exist."

Her giggles began again as she replied, "Yes I do. You knew my mother. I'd be alive if you would have helped her."

Walter was stunned. He knew right then that her mother was Jordan. She must have been pregnant when she killed herself. This little girl was their unborn baby who died that day in Los Angeles. He wondered what she wanted and as if hearing his thoughts, she answered. "I want to be alive. To live. You can still be my Daddy, but first you must find me a body."

Walter looked at himself in the mirror and realized he was crying. Somehow he felt guilt, and this guilt made him want to help his unborn daughter.

He looked back at the image of the little girl. "What's your name?"

She smiled and answered, "You never gave me one. What do you think my name should be?" She c.o.c.ked her head at Walter with that perfect smile.

"How about Christine? Do you like that name?"

She laughed instead of giggling but somehow her laugh came across as evil.

"Oh, yes, Daddy. That's my name now. It's perfect."

Walter smiled at her. Then he asked the simple question, "What do I do?"

Her smile increased as she answered, "Let's go to the hospital; together."

She stood and led her father out of the bathroom and they left the house together hand in hand.

Walter and his newfound daughter drove to the Rapshure hospital as fast as he could. She sat quietly in the pa.s.senger seat staring out at the world. She was smiling again. Then she looked over at Walter and said, "You know you have a brother, don't you?"

Walter looked at her in surprise. "What do you mean I have a brother?"

"His name is Randy. I went to him first, thinking he was you."

"Did you talk to him? What's he like? Is he like me?"

"No," she said. "I just looked at him. I realized he wasn't you. He's a bad man, Daddy; he just doesn't know it yet."

Walter found himself feeling angry and jealous. His father had lied to him. Walter had always prided himself on being the only heir to the family name. It was blasphemous to hear that he had a brother.

"Where is he?" Walter asked.

She giggled a bit and said, "He's in Rapshure at the moment."

Walter smiled. After he was done at the hospital he would visit his dear brother. Was it a coincidence his brother lived in the same city he worked in?

The unmarked police cruiser pulled into the hospital parking lot and parked. Walter exited the vehicle and walked into the building with Christine following close behind.

"Where to?" he asked.

She walked up to a sign and put her finger on it. "Right here," she said.

The letters she had pointed to read MATERNITY WARD. Walter knew automatically what they were doing. She wanted the body of a newborn to possess. Quietly he walked down the stark white halls of the hospital towards the maternity ward. Once they reached it he peered in through a wide gla.s.s window which overlooked a compartment of cribs that held crying newborns. A young couple was standing nearby.

Walter looked at them and smiled. They smiled back.

Walter waited with Christine by his side until the couple finally left and the on-call nurse left on some unknown task. She had seen him but he made sure his badge was in plain sight, but his face was relatively hidden so she couldn't get a good look at him. The nurse wasn't worried once she saw the badge, and why should she be? After all, he was there to protect and serve, not kidnap newborn babies.

When the coast was clear, he walked into the nursery. The cries around him plagued him but he wouldn't be swayed.

"Which one?" he asked.

Christine walked over to one of the cribs and pointed at a baby who wasn't crying but was asleep.

"Her," she said simply. "Pick her up and let's go."

Walter obliged and picked up the baby. Sliding the small baby into his jacket, he quickly left the nursery and then the hospital. He was lucky that no one else was really around aside from the few nurses and doctors. Then they were in the police cruiser and on the road once again.

Behind Walter in the backseat of the unmarked police cruiser, the baby started crying. The cruiser hit a rock and bounced for a split second and the baby was silenced but then began anew. Beside him in the pa.s.senger seat, Christine smiled. Then she turned and reached back to the baby. When she turned back around she was holding the infant in her arms. She cradled the newborn as it cried madly.

Walter silently watched the grotesque spectacle as Christine put her hand over the baby's mouth and began to sing a sweet lullaby. "Hush little baby don't be sad. If you don't hush then I'll be mad. And if I'm mad then I will cry. And if I cry than I'll be sad. Then we'll be sad together."

She repeated the song over and over again until the baby finally quieted down. Christine giggled and looked over at Walter. "I came up with that on my own, Daddy. Well...not really. I heard it from another little girl. She was dead just like me. Only her parents were both dead and she didn't know the way back. But I do."

Walter looked into Christine's eyes and saw a strange glow in them. Something malevolent he hadn't seen before.

She continued. "You're a bad man too, Daddy. Just like your brother. Just like your Daddy. Just like your Daddy's Daddy. All blood is the same."

"What do you mean? What about my father?" Walter asked.

"Just ask him. Just ask and he'll tell you. You see the dirt road coming up?"

Walter looked out at the dark road and sure enough there was a dirt road coming up to the right.

"Take it," she said.

Walter turned onto the dirt road and drove slowly down it. It was a b.u.mpy ride for it was covered with deep pot holes and mud. Nothing was on either side of him but trees. The road seemed to go on forever until unexpectedly the road ended. Walter looked at his daughter who just giggled. The baby started crying again. Walter quickly got out of the cruiser and walked silently into the wrenching darkness ahead. His mouth was agape as he stared in disbelief at the sight before him.

"Where the f.u.c.k am I?" he whispered to no one but himself.

Through the darkness, he could see a rough patch of land with no gra.s.s or trees. Nothing living. A circle of pure dirt, but darkened dirt. It was as if a fire had spread in a circular motion for centuries and killed all life on the inside of it. Around the circle was a black stone that had been crudely set around the edge.

Christine walked past Walter and into the circle with the baby in her arms. Walter, lost in what was happening, never bothered to question how a ghost girl could actually be carrying the baby. He just accepted it as reality.

Christine stopped dead center in the circle and turned to face her father. She dropped the crying baby roughly to the ground and outstretched her arms. Her eyes closed as she began to speak. "This is the Crysolo. The place in the world where Satan was cast down into h.e.l.l. No life will ever be in this circle. Unless it is life for a life. The existence of the abomination is real and it is here. This is the doorway to h.e.l.l. And the gateway to Heaven lies above us."

Walter, confused, began to walk into the circle. Christine put a hand out in front of her and said, "No, Daddy, to enter this circle will kill you."

"But what about the baby?"

She smiled at his question and answered thoughtfully. "It's impossible to kill that which is innocent."

"What? What do you mean?"

"This life has just begun. It's susceptible to one such as me. Because its very spirit, its very soul is uncorrupted. I can enter its body easily and succeed in its overture. I cannot push the soul away, but I can cast it aside, until I release my grasp upon it. Now, be quiet and watch. Turn away when the light comes."

Christine looked down at the infant and began to mutter words in a form of Latin that Walter had never heard before. They seemed not of this world.

The black stones around the circle began to shake and the ground within the circle began to glow, casting an ominous light around Christine and the baby who was no longer crying.

Walter quickly turned away as a blinding, reddish orange light erupted around him. Heat covered him, a heat that felt as though the sun had come closer to the Earth.

No, hotter than even that.

He could hear behind him the sounds of a million voices all crying out at once, then a ripping sound followed by the cries of the newborn. Then all was dark again and silent. It was over as quickly as it had begun. He started to turn around but something grabbed his hand. He looked down to see Christine, or rather the baby who had somehow sprung up into the form of a ten-year-old.

She had fiery red hair.

"How..." he started to say but was interrupted by her.

"It doesn't matter, Daddy. It just is. Come on, let's go home."

Chapter 18.

"I still don't get it," Walter said for the third time that night as he and his daughter sat in Walter's living room on the couch. She'd been eating ever since they came back that night. She had eaten several bowls of cereal, pop tarts, and even a piece of steak he cooked for himself. And yet, still, she was hungry.

Although she had explained the occurrence to him several times he still didn't fully understand.

"It's not that hard, Daddy," she said while biting into her sixth pop tart. "I made a deal."

"A deal with the Devil," Walter said, still not believing.

"Yes, that's right. So I could successfully take over the body of the infant."

"I got that. I'm just lost on how the infant grew so quick into you."

"Because I have been a lost spirit for so long I needed the body to be bigger; to accommodate both our souls."

"Yours and the infants," he said.

"Yes. So the body grew to ten years in age. I don't plan on staying in this body forever. Sooner or later I'll go back and leave this world."

"What? Why?"

"Because I don't want to stay. This world is...too f.u.c.ked up."

"Don't say that word," he chided.

"Why not? You say it. Besides, I'm dead, what does it matter?"

"Your not dead any more and as long as I'm your father you're not going anywhere."

"That's the idea," she grinned.

He looked at his daughter who had finished with her sixth pop tart and was quickly tearing open another pack.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I stayed to help you, Daddy. When you're gone, I'll have no reason to remain here. So I'll go back."

"Were you...in h.e.l.l?"

She stopped opening the pack of pop tarts and looked at Walter, "No, Daddy, why that would be impossible. I died in the womb. How could I go to h.e.l.l?"

"I don't know. You just knew where to go and what to do."

"Well, being dead you see things. All things. And you learn things, too. Besides, Heaven doesn't make deals. They frown on the dead coming back. So I imagine that now I will go to h.e.l.l. Along with everyone else. Somehow I doubt anyone makes it to Heaven anyway."

"What does that mean?"

"It means there are no truly perfect people. And Heaven likes perfect people. But a person in this world, no matter how they act, their hearts are set on other things. Things Heaven calls a sin. It's curious to see how man is made in G.o.d's image yet if man is so bad, thena"

"Not everyone is bad," he said.