Human vs. Phantom

Chapter-3 Episode-5 Suppeditat Animus Cupidine

Chapter- 3

Episode- 5

Suppeditat Animus Cupidine

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Jim and Reeve reached the Miller residence, more like the place used to be the Miller residence. Frank and Margaret Miller, the wedded couple who lived here with their children. After Frank Miller’s wife committed suicide and he lost both of his children too, he was too depressed and disheartened. He couldn’t convince himself to be back at the place that was filled with their memories. He never even thought that he would have to see a day where he is totally left alone to live in this big wide world. After giving his family a proper burial h left the town. He never sold his property; he was too weak to do so. After a few years, he passed away after drinking his kidneys out from the pain. He regretted that day ever happened. He regretted his children away and going for work.

Jim and Reeve left their car outside the residence and went inside. It was night and the house has been abandoned for many years. There was no light, the whole area was completely immersed in the darkness. Jim and Reeve were holding their guns as they walked inside. They had a flashlight in their hands too to help them see in the darkness. holding the gun and flashlight they tiptoed inside. Their breathing was steady as they walked silently. The place was noiseless. Seeing no one around, Jim exclaimed,

“Hello! Is there someone here? We are from the FBI.” His loud voice echoed through the whole secluded place as he said those words.

“Is there someone here?” Reeve said next making the same vibrations.

“Reeve I don’t think there is anyone here,” Jimmy uttered in his voice which this time came out muffled.

“I betcha. Look at the place. does it look like anyone has been in this place? All this dust and these many tiny-miny spider webs, of course, there is no one. Let’s go and look inside.” Reeve said in his muffled but hoarse voice moving forward to the hallway that was in front of them. He opened and went inside the first door in the hallway.

As he and Jim went inside, Jim's hand went to the right wall in the room, looking for the light switch. He switched the plug on, as he found it, but of course, no one lived there so there is no way someone was paying the electricity bills. They knew it too but that action for more like a habit, so he did it anyway.

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Jim's POV,

We are inside the room, flashing our lights to figure out what the room is like. The first thing to notice was that it was big. And by the looks of it, it looked more like a storage room. It had many cabinets. Many of them were empty, with nothing but dust covering over them like a layer, a thick one. There was some stuff in a few of those cabinets, like piles of waste papers and newspapers, a stack of old rugs, and few big black cooking pots. On the right end of the room, it had lots of pottery pieces laying on the floor, they looked old and dusty and but many of them were finely intact. On the other side, there was a wooden table, dusty and webby. And on it, there were a few candle stands made of brass with half-melted candles on it. There was nothing much in the room other than that.

I and Reeve were going through the papers there. They dated back to the late 1800s. nothing in the stack looked of help. So, we moved on to the next cabinet. It had a box, a black box, probably silver, but it was all dusty so it could be something else. It was big enough to hold a book inside but went to lifted it, I wasn’t much heavy. As Reeve opened the box, It was filled with nothing but some trimmings of newspaper articles. I and Reeve both looked at each other, giving a disappointed look. We were hoping to find something useful in that box. Nonetheless, we emptied it on the table on the left. And as w looked through it, we realized that they were not some useless trimmings, all those news articles in that book was about Frank Miller. “He must be a famous lad,” Reeve spoke up.

“seems like it,” I replied looking through the articles.

“See, this. This is about how he build a big business of poultry and fish farming from being a local cooper.” I said showing the paper piece to Reeve.

“and this, he got married to Margaret in 1870. They were quite famous as a couple back then. It also says that Margaret belongs to a family of sailors.” Reeve showed.

There were some other articles about how Frank Miller donated for the upliftment of his town. Going through that room and being left with nothing to go through anymore we moved to the other door in the hallway.

It was also pitch black from inside. But this time we knew not to try for lights. It seemed like to be their master bedroom. The room was much bigger in the area than the previous one. as we entered with the flashlights there was a big mahogany bed on the left of the room. It was in the middle of the wall with two lampshades, one on every side. It had a big chandelier on the ceiling in the middle of the room. The room once cleaned must look lavish for even this time. The place is filled with antique collections, Paintings, pottery, mirrors, furniture, and so much more. Maybe no one knew about this place. If to sell these items anyone can easily get a few million cash, but it wasn’t what we are looking for.

On the other side, was a big vanity table. The lady of the house must use it for herself. Reeve went to check the table. He was going through the drawers in it while I was looking in the cupboard next to it.

“hey look what I've got,” Reeve called.

“what is it?” I asked turning to him. He was smiling his toothed smile, with his eyes a little more open.

“see this ring, how much do you think it would cost?” I talked while I gave him a blank look.

“seriously Reeve, you want to take that. You know this could be a cursed object.” I said out.

“or maybe not. Maybe we can sell it and go on a vacation to Miami. Chilling on the beach, sipping vodka, some girls by our side. Or to LA if you want to. What’s wrong party, poker, and girls? Huh.” He said with a merry and exciting expression.

“do what we are here for man, and let’s get out of here,” I said in a sharp tone.

“you’re no fun,” he said and I turned back and started going through that grubby place again. As I was looking in the drawers in the cupboard, I found a diary. I opened it curiously.

“what you got?” I heard Reeve saying.

“I think it’s a diary,” I answered.

“you’ve seen what’s inside?” he said again.

“was going to, wanna see?” he came to where I was standing. Flashing the light on that stationary he said,

“1888, the year Margaret died. Is this hers?” he said looking at the date on the first page.

“I think it is hers. See the next page.” I suggested. The diary didn’t have many pages inked. Just two of them have been used. It was written on September 30th. Reeve started reading it loudly. In the first paragraph, we both knew that the pages of the diary weren’t filled by Margaret to share the news of her day. But it was soaked in her sadness and grief. She said in the first paragraph that how her husband always came home drunk, reeking of a cheap brothel. She then wrote that Frank didn’t look after the kids. Her daughter was very sick and needed a doctor but Frank never took care of her. He was getting more and more distant the wealthier he was getting. Margret also said that her husband beat her just because she wanted answers for her husband’s such behavior. Her words were such drenched in depression that I could feel her helpless emotions. She must have questioned her husband many times but every time that happened, she ended up bruised or mentally hurt. She said she just wanted answers that she can still save her marriage. She also wrote that she is returning her wedding ring to the man who gave it to her in hopes that he will come back to her someday. In the end, she wrote that, quote “I hope your grief after we are gone is greater than mine.”

“Are you thinking what I am thinking?” Reeve said.

“that the ring in your pocket is her wedding ring?” I said. Hearing my words Reeve took the ring out of his pocket.

“oh! How did it get here? and no, I meant maybe she is still waiting for her husband to come back and she couldn’t cross over?” he said.

“do you know where this Frank was buried?” he said again.

“yeah, he was buried beside his wife and kids in the cemetery,” I informed.

“let’s rock and roll?” Reeve said. We went out of the place, back to our car.

As we went to the cemetery where the Miller family was buried, according to the information I got from the internet, we found their graves. Reeve and I start digging the graves of Margaret. It took around an hour of digging till we reach her grave. Exhuming her body, which is now all bones, Reeve took out a bottle of oil and a bag of salt from the bag that we always carry when we are hunting. I sat her grave on fire. The pit started burning with big flames.

I and Reeve sat down near the place till the bones were charred and the fire was completely extinguished. After that, we filled the pit again and went back to the motel we were staying in.   

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