Limbo

ASHLEY:

"You might want to be careful poking around in the bushes like that, dude! Rachel says that it's not too uncommon to run across snakes out here." I call out as I see Jake over near a pretty thick stand of blackberry bushes. "Besides, those things have some nasty thorns on them."

And before the words are completely out of my mouth, he jerks his hand back from the bush, sticking his finger in his mouth. "Yeah, I just found that out! Shit!"

The other guys are sort of spread out along the treeline of the small patch of woods at the edge of the B and B property, sort of looking everything over, because we decided that we'd come out for awhile and see if we could find any sign of where Rachel or her husband might be buried. I left the necklace in my room, because even though it's a long shot that we'll find anything, I can't imagine how traumatizing it would be for her to be with us if we do.

Andy and CC have found themselves a couple of long sticks that they're using to poke the ground with, trying to see if there's any place that seems softer, like it might have been dug up at some point, and Jake, Jinxx, and I have been checking around for things like hollowed-out trees, or even stuff like oil drums or storage tubs that may have just been dumped off in the woods.

Jinxx walks over to me and says, "If we don't find anything here, maybe we should go check around that little lake you were talking about the other day. It would probably be a lot easier digging there than it would be here, with all of the roots and stuff."

"Yeah, maybe," I sigh. "But how bad would that suck for her, if it turned out that her asshole father had ruined the only place around here that she actually enjoys being by burying her, or Sawyer, there?"

He sort of nods in agreement, and then we both get back to looking around for anything unusual. I pull out my phone and check to make sure that I haven't missed any calls or texts, because while we're roaming around out here, Charlie and Bob were planning to go check out a rickety old storage shed out behind the house, see what might be in there, and call if they found anything interesting. There's nothing so far, so I stuff it back in my pocket and find a stick for myself, even though I'm already pretty well convinced that there's nothing here to find. From what I understand, the cops did everything short of take a backhoe to the property and never found any sign of them, so my guess is that her dad probably took them somewhere else to dump them on his way to wherever the hell he took off to. If they took the time to check nearby jurisdictions for any reports of unidentified bodies being found, they might come up with something.

Or, there's another possibility that just crept into my brain, which, if it turned out to be true, means that we'll never find her. It's occurred to me that there might be something to what Jinxx just said, and maybe the bastards did take one or both of them there, but instead of being by the lake, they could be in it.

We make our way through the small patch of woods without finding anything, and as the sun gets higher, it starts to get fairly hot. Andy pushes his hair back out of his face and says, "Hey, guys, maybe we should head back now. I'm pretty sure nobody wants to get heatstroke or something like that. At least I know I don't."

"Yeah, you're probably right," I reply. "Besides, if there actually are any snakes out here, they'll be more active when it's warmer."

"Uh, guys," CC interrupts from a few feet away. "I think I found something."

We all sort of freeze in place for a second, looking at each other incredulously, before we slowly turn toward him. He's standing by an old, dead tree with a split in the trunk, and I suddenly feel the urge to turn tail and run like Usain Bolt back to the house. Yeah, we came out here trying to find Rachel's body, but now I'm hoping with everything in me that we haven't, because I'm not sure I could deal with it.

"Is it...?" Andy inquires. "You know, is it a...?"

"No, it's not a body," he says, and we all let out a sigh of relief. "But I think we should probably call Whitworth anyway, because this stuff wouldn't be here without a reason."

Everybody walks over to the tree, and he points toward the opening in the trunk. I look inside, and see a gym bag that someone has stuffed inside, which has torn at one seam, revealing the butt of a gun. Jake whips out his phone and calls Bob, putting him on speaker as he tells him what we've found, and he relays the information to Charlie. After a second, he says, "Okay, Charlie is calling it in right now. Can you hang where you are until they get there?"

"Sure, not a problem," Jake answers, and Bob ends the call. So we move away from the tree a bit, and wait for fifteen minutes or so until we see Charlie's ATV's come rolling our way.

"Looks like they're here," Jinxx observes. "I just hope he didn't bring that asshole who was here after the break-in."

Whitworth comes to a stop in front of us, the other cop comes up alongside him, and when the guys all relax a bit, I assume that he's not the one Jinxx was talking about. He reaches into a compartment on the back of his vehicle and pulls out a camera, while the chief says, "Okay, why don't you show me what you found, and maybe explain what you're all doing prowling around out here in the first place."

Okay, then, this could be interesting! We all glance at each other, trying to think of what to say, and then CC points to the tree and says, "The stuff is in there, Chief, and we didn't touch anything. And we were just kind of curious, actually. Whenever we go into town, or down to the cafe, everyone always says that the bodies are probably buried somewhere on the property, so we just kinda decided to look around and see if we could find anything."

"That's right," Andy chimes in. "I mean, I assume that they had families somewhere that would like to know where they are. We actually met them at our show that night, and they seemed like pretty decent people, so it didn't seem right for them to just be dumped in a field or something, where their folks can't find them."

He listens to the explanation, and then says, "Okay, I can respect that. But you guys need to be more careful if you're gonna do this kind of thing, since there are apparently at least a few of those nuts still hanging around. Victor Berridge is a full-fledged sociopath, and had those people basically brainwashed, so they'll most likely be willing to do pretty much anything they think he would want them to do."

He pulls on a pair of gloves, and as soon as the other cop moves away from the tree trunk, he reaches in and pulls out the bag. Then, as he places it on the ground, he says, "And as for families, the only family that Sawyer Monroe had was his dad and his brother, his mom died when the boys were kids. His dad is in jail, and his brother is one of the ones who shot him, so I'm pretty sure he wouldn't need to be told if the body was found. And as for the girl, the only family we know of besides that fucking lunatic is her little sister and an aunt in the states, who probably would like to have her remains back."

He has the other officer take pictures of the bag, then opens it and starts removing the contents and placing them on the ground, eventually revealing three guns and several clips. "Well, Jurgens, I'd be just about to bet money that we've found the rest of the murder weapons."

They take more pictures, then ride alongside us while we head back toward the house. When we get there, they want us to go into town and give statements at the station, so Deputy Jurgens rides with Andy, CC, and Jake in one of the cars, and Jinxx and I go with the chief in the squad car, so they can verify that we didn't have any chance to talk to each other about what we're gonna say. And as we pull out of the driveway, I glance up at the window of my room and see Rachel looking out, seeming to be a bit worried.

We all get put into separate rooms at the station, and Whitworth cycles around to each of us with a recorder to get our statements, then sends us to the lobby to wait for everyone else, which gives me quite a bit of time to think. Eventually they say we can go, and we pile into the car and go back to the B and B, where everyone is waiting to hear what happened.

We all decide to order pizza, and fill the others in while we wait for it. After it shows up, we eat, and decide to just hang out and watch a movie, then go up to bed, because we're all just drained. Rachel comes up with me when I go to my room, and as soon as the door closes, she asks, "Would you like to talk about whatever is bothering you, Ash?"

"I'd think that would be kind of obvious," I hedge.

"Yeah, I'm sure it's partly because of everything that happened today, but I just get the feeling that there's something more to it. But if you don't want to tell me, that's okay, I won't bug you about it."

I look at her for a second, then drag my fingers through my hair and say, "Yeah, you're right, there is something else, but I'm not sure I can explain it without sounding like a completely terrible, selfish person."

She looks a bit confused, but says, "Ash, I know that isn't even remotely true, so don't think that way. Everyone has some selfish thoughts once in awhile, but it doesn't make you a bad person. So if you want to tell me, just come out and say it, and I'll listen."

I take a deep breath, and look her in the eye. "Okay, here goes, then. We went out there today looking for you, or Sawyer, but when CC said he'd found something, before we knew what it was, I figured out that I'm actually sort of ambivalent about the idea. I know that you're stuck here, and that might be the only way to fix the problem, and I know that I promised you that I'd do everything I could to try to make that happen, but..."

"But what, Ash?" she prompts.

"But if that 'unsticks' you, or however you want to put it, and you go on to... wherever you're supposed to be, I'm going to miss you. I like you, I enjoy our walks and our conversations, and I guess I'm having one of those selfish moments, because I know that you don't want to be here, but I don't want you to go."

She doesn't say anything, and I get a bit worried, until she walks up and hugs me, which feels sort of like being wrapped in a cobweb, or maybe a piece of silk fabric. There's enough pressure for me to feel it, but she's not solid enough for me to actually hug her back. And in a way, that might not be a bad thing, since I can feel myself getting hard from having her so close.

"Ash, I have to tell you, I actually think that may be the sweetest thing I've ever heard," she informs me. "Yes, I've hated this place since I was little, and I've wanted to get out since I got trapped here, but having you here to talk to actually makes it tolerable. You're a great guy, and I have to admit that when you guys go back to LA, I'm going to miss you, too. So I guess what we should do is just enjoy the time we actually have to hang out together, and worry about everything else when it happens."

"Yeah, I guess that's pretty much all we can do. So I think I'm going to go take a shower now, and go to bed. Then I can get up early enough in the morning that we can go out for a walk before we go to the studio, okay?"

She smiles, and steps away from me, allowing me to make my escape into the bathroom. I undress and turn on the shower, then step inside, with my dick so hard it's almost painful. I haven't had the chance to get laid since we got here, and combining that with having a smoking-hot ghost girl in my sight most of the time, makes it kind of surprising that I haven't imploded before now.

I get a handful of shower gel and soap myself up, then bring my hand down to my cock and start stroking, desperately needing to relieve the pressure. But I barely get started when I feel a feather-light hand slide over mine, and hear Rachel whisper in my ear, "Would you like some help with that?"

Notes