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Title: Apparition Summary: You can guess, it's a ghost story, by the title. Note: This is a bit mean to Scully, but hell, she's the one asking for tangibility in every other episode. "This house is huge," Mary Sliverstone said as her husband, Rob, entered the room. The real estate agent stood beside Mary and smiled. She knew these people would buy the house. "I know, jeez with five rooms and an unfinished one in the attic, all the other space, the great price, I don't know how we'll be able to refuse," he said. "About the price, this is such a great house in such a great location and everything, why is it so cheap?" Mary asked the agent. "I am involved in a project to hook up good people with good homes at good She wasn't about to lose these clients over a stupid myth. Ghosts don't exist, plain and simple! "We'll take it," Rob said handing a check for fifty thousand dollars to the real estate agent. He picked Mary up and twirled her around the room. "Thank you sir. You're papers will be delivered tomorrow, " the real estate agent said leaving the house. "Oh, Rob, this is going to be great!" Mary exclaimed. Suddenly a paint can swung out of "Mary, you ok.?" "Yeah. That was odd. It must have fallen from the stairs." "Yeah." He paused to look at her. She smiled at him. "We're going to have a wonderful life here." At the top of the stairs a shadowy stood, sneering, "Not if I can help it." Four Months Later Mulder and Scully sat at a bench in the middle of a park. They looked around for a couple to approach. "Do you think they'll show?" Scully said sucking on a sunflower seed. "They sounded really tense on the phone. I think they don't recognize us." "FBI you told them?" "Agents Scully and Mulder?" the man asked. Mulder nodded, because he had a sunflower seed in his mouth and couldn't speak. They then shook hands with the couple. "Sorry we're late but we had to drive down here from Long Island, New York and we kind of got lost." "How'd you hear about us?" Mulder asked. "My cousin got me in contact with the Lone Gunmen and they said you were paranormal experts. What we have is definitely paranormal and I was hoping you could help us," Rob said. "Well what exactly is the problem?" Scully asked. "We have a ghost," Mary blurted out. "A ghost?" Scully repeated. "Yeah. We bought this house in Long Island for a real good price." Rob snickered. "We soon found the reason for the good price." "Soon things started happening. We would start to hang up our pictures and then they would fall. We put the furniture and we would wake up to it rearranged," Mary continued. Then Rob started again, "When we would be sleeping the doors would suddenly start to slam open and closed by themselves for hours. We were awakened one night by paint being splashed around the room." Mary picked up there, "Sometimes we would be awakened by a voice talking. There would be a big ghostly looking figure standing at the foot of the bed telling us that it was his land and that we had to get out. " Rob suddenly interrupted, "I draw the line when my child is threatened! Mary is four months pregnant. The other day the man, the ghost, made a television set fly at her stomach. Since then we've been at hotel." Mulder looked at Scully for a reaction, she looked back at him blank-faced. Then they both looked back at Mary and Rob. "I have to protect my wife and child. If you two were in this situation, agent Mulder you wouldn't want anything to happen to agent Scully," Rob said looking at Mulder. His sad face made Mulder feel sorry for him. "We'll do everything we can. Scully?" "Yes. But Mulder where do we start?" "We have to see the house." "Let's go, it's a ten hour drive." They got in their two cars and started their drive up. "We have to look into their house." "But look into what. Mulder you don't know anything about ghosts and I don't believe in them, you know that." "Yes, but what have we got to lose?" "Our lives," she said sounding a little worried. "But you don't believe." "I don't, but if these people rig something up to make us believe their story about their house really being haunted, they might hurt us." "I won't let them hurt you, ok?" "Ok Mulder, but I have a really bad feeling about this." The next day they got to the house. Scully and Mulder told Rob and Mary to wait outside the house when they checked it out. Scully went to the second story and Mulder stayed on the first. They both went through the house without a problem. Upstairs Scully saw a hatch leading to the attic. She opened it and climbed up the stairs that slid from the hatch. The attic was illuminated only slightly by a small bulb she clicked on. It had a floor and looked like and unfinished sixth bedroom. A chill ran down her spine as she took the next step. Suddenly she "Mulder what the hell are you doing up here, trying to scare me to death!?" Mulder jumped back a clear foot from her, shocked. "I didn't know where you were and when I came up I saw the hatch down. I came up looking for you. I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you." "My God." She sighed. They both went back down the stairs and out the front door. "There nothing in there," Mulder told them. "Well maybe the ghost didn't want to come out or something," Rob said hysterically. Mulder put a hand on his shoulder. "Rob, we're going now but we'll come back tomorrow. Don't worry we are going to help you," he reassured them. "We're going back to our hotel, we'll be back to meet you here tomorrow morning. Thank you," Rob said turning around. He and Mary got into their car and left. "What are we going to do Mulder?" Scully asked, walking back to the car. "Go to the library, research." "Great!" Scully exclaimed sarcastically as the got into the car. They headed to the library not knowing what to find, not knowing what to look for. They asked the librarian for anything that would help them find the old owners of the house and the woman led them to the back room. "Interested in buying the house?" the librarian asked them. "Yeah," Mulder said holding Scully back. "You know, I didn't know that house was for sale." "It is, and at a good price. Me and my wife here were looking for a new start, being married for a month we didn't want to live in the old apartment forever," Mulder said hugging Scully. She played along knowing he would joke about this for a while. "Well that's great, congratulations, but you should know that house doesn't have a good reputation." "What's wrong with it?" Scully asked. "Well I heard back in the old days a man died in that house, another disappeared." "Do you know anything about it?" Mulder asked. "All I know is that you can find most things starting in November of 1914. That's when the mystery started. Newspapers back there. Good luck you two, you make such a beautiful couple. "The librarian said walking away, leaving them alone in a big dusty old room. Mulder kissed Scully on the head when the librarian turned to them at the door. She closed the door and Mulder let Scully go. His grip had become so tight that Scully had to stretch when he backed off. "What the hell was that?" Scully asked. "Easy information." He paused. "Honey." He burst out in laughter. She started to laugh realizing that is was funny. She thought; could you imagine him and me. She abruptly stopped laughing and looked at hadith a stern face. He stopped laughing and looked back at her, he now the one confused. "We need to investigate this remember," she said, "Sweetie." She added giggling. They look over newspapers from the days in November and finally Scully found it. "Mulder. Herald Donevin found dead in his house, November 3, 1914." "Samuel Rogers. Missing November 4, 1914. Doesn't it make you wonder if they were involved." "Nothing. Mulder how could this be connected?" "Samuel Rogers was planning to build a hotel in this town. He and two other men, Klyde Gronen and Moby Terrace, had a chain of hotels and they wanted to make another one here. What if the three men did the unthinkable, they killed Herald Donevin. They killed him Scully, then Klyde and Moby killed Samuel." "Mulder, how the hell did you come up with this conclusion from these two bits of information?" "Simple there was another article on the arrest of Klyde Gronen and Moby Terrace for the murder of Samuel Rogers. Body was never found, but they confessed." She almost hit him when he said that but she didn't instead she told him, Mulder we have to go to the house. Look at it. Go through the house without the Sliverstones bugging us." "Ok," Mulder agreed. They drove to the house and open the front door with the key that Robert had given them. They looked around the house second time and still found nothing. Scully this time searched downstairs while he searched the second floor. Then it occurred other she never did see what was in the attic. "Mulder," she said going up the stairs. He met her at the top. "What?" "This afternoon. I didn't get to see the attic because you scared me." He nodded and they went to find the door again. Mulder pulled the door down and they both went up the stairs. Mulder took out a flashlight and found the light switch. As soon as they could see the whole room they spread out and started to look through the attic. There were boxes that belonged to the Sliverstones. There were a few boxes that were found in corner that didn't belong to the though. Mulder found them and yelled, "Scully, come here." She walked over uncooked at the boxes. A name written on one of the sides caught her attention. "Mulder who are the, Fundreds?" "I don't know, but there's only one way to find out." He took a small pocket knife out of his pocket and stripped the tape off the box. Mulder took out his cell phone and dialed the hotel where the Sliverstones were staying. When Robert got the phone Mulder asked him, "Robert we are in your house. There are boxes in the attic, marked with the name Fundreds. Who were they?" "You're in our house." Rob sounded surprised. "Do you want us to come over?" "No, just tell me who the Fundreds were." "They were the people who moved in before us. I think they left in a hurry because we found some of their stuff in the attic. I think they had a kid that made the attic her room. We put most of the stuff in boxes, but we had to throw away the furniture." "Thanks. We're going to stay the night. Don't come over until we tell you to." "What if you never call?" Robert asked with clear panic in his voice. "If we don't call you in three days come." Mulder hung up the one and put it back in his pocket. When he turned he was surprised to see that Scully had already taken out most of the contents of the box he had opened. "A diary. Hilary Fundreds'. Nothing much." "Find the point they moved into the house." "I have. They gave this to her as a house warming present." "Read through, what does it say?" "Um, she doesn't like the house. She said she got bad vibes from it. Oh God!" "What?" "November 3, 1993. They had been living in the house for two months. The wall started to pour blood. An unseen force flung her across the room. Photos from the walls were thrown too." "Is that it?" Scully read through the book in silence until she reached the last page. "January 5, 1994. 'My father says we have to leave and weave to do it fast. I am leaving you, dear diary, so that I may forget this horrible place. If anyone reads this I want them to know this house is haunted. It is haunted by the ghost of Samuel Rogers. If you live in this house you know. Leave!'" Scully threw the diary in the box and looked at Mulder. "Interesting." "Mulder I think we should-" "Leave?" "Yes," she said stifling a yawn. "Tired?" he asked her. She looked at her watch, 1:33am . "Yep," she said letting the yawn out. They both got up and Scully quickly went down the stairs. Mulder was distracted by something in the room. "Mulder?" Scully called when he didn't come down. He turned to answer when the stairs pulled up on their own and the doorway closed. Mulder ran to the door and pulled on it. From outside he could hear her, "Mulder, open the door! Mulder stop it, open the door!" "Scully!" he yelled. Suddenly the room started to glow. Mulder turned away from Scully's cries and saw the man. His eyes widened in shock. Then Samuel stood there, wearing old fashioned clothing. He had hair slightly longer that Mulders and a mustache. "You shouldn't be here," he said. His voice sounded as if he were in another world, almost like the wind. "We only want to help." "There's only one thing you can do." "What?" "Leave!" he yelled. "But don't you understand? You're hurting people, we need to help them. You're the one who has to leave." "Mulder what's going on up there? Mulder who are you talking to?" Scully asked from downstairs. "Mulder, protect her, because I want you to leave and I know how I can get you to. She would be a painful loss for you." Mulder lunged at the man. He disappeared and then he heard Scully scream. He ran to the door, which had opened. She was lying on the floor. He rushed down the stairs and lifted her head. "Scully!" She opened her eyes and held her right knee. "What happened?" "The door fell so fast. The stairs slid down on my leg." He picked her up and carried her to the bedroom. He ran downstairs, got their suitcases out of the trunk of the car and hurried back into the house. He went to the room and locked the door "I'll take a bath first. Scream if you need me," Mulder said. He rushed through the shower and asked her to do the same. "Why?" she questioned. "Scully, this guy wants to get us to leave." "What the hell does that have to do with us leaving - you think if we conserve water Samuel will leave?" Scully said with a bit of sarcasm. "Just hurry!" She looked at him strangely and then went into the bathroom. In the bathroom Scully stood under the hot water and started to wonder about Mulder. What the hell was he talking about? She decided it would be best to do as he said because if not he would probably barge in and this was not exactly as she wished him to see her. "Mulder?" she called. Outside the room Mulder heard her and came to the door. He put his hand on the knob and it burned him. He screamed in pain and heard the echo of Samuel's words, 'She would be a painful loss for you.' Scully had heard him scream and went to grab the knob and burned her hand. "Scully back away from the door!" he shouted. He wasn't sure if she had heard him but he shot three times at the doorknob anyway. He heard her scream one last time and then the door blew itself off the hinges. "Scully!" he yelled. The bathroom was dark. He went back out and grabbed a flashlight. Mulder took the light and shined it in the bathroom. There was a lot of glass on the floor. He saw her, then, huddled side the tub crying. "Scully," he said. She raised her eyes at him, red and frightened. She had a line of blood going down her right cheek. "What happened?" she murmured. He bent over her and lifted her out of the tub and took her into the bedroom. With a tissue he wiped the blood off her. "You ok? What happened to your head?" He finished cleaning her wound, a cut on her right temple, and put a bandage on it. "The door locked. The lights exploded. I heard gun shots. The first two hit the knob out, the third ricocheted off the metal of the knob and broke the glass of the mirror. Glass went flying everywhere, one hit me in the head. I jumped in the tub." "Samuel knows you're my best friend. He knows if he hurts you I would be willing to leave, to keep you safe. If y want to you can, but if you stay you're not leaving my side." She nodded and got under both of the covers. Mulder crawled into bed next to her getting under only the first cover. She moved closer to him and snuggled against his arm. She slept, he didn't. A few hours later Scully woke up. She looked at him lying there staring at the ceiling. Never had she had a more comfortable sleep. Scully got out of bed so quickly that she startled Mulder out of his day dream. "Mulder what are you trying to do scare it?" Scully asked smirking. "No. It's just that I'm not used to eating so much in the morning." "Well you got no sleep, you have to eat or you'll pass out and you'll be no good to me if you're sprawled on the floor snoring." "Scully." "I just don't need for you to be passing out on me." He looked at her and shoved a big piece of toast in his mouth. He had an urge to open his mouth revealing the chewed toast but thought that would be inappropriate, and gross. "Ok. So do you still think the Sliverstones rigged the house?" "I don't know. There's no indication, but there's no other way it could have happened." "Samuel Rogers-" Mulder began. "Is dead! Gone, Mulder! Not here!" she shrieked. "He talked to me." Scully smirked and started to ask him, "Well when you get in touch with Elvis..." She grinned. "It's not funny Scully! He really doesn't want anyone to live in that house." "Why not?" "It's his land." "Oh great excuse. Did he tell you this personally?" "No, but there's no other reason he wouldn't want anyone to be living in that house." "There is. Mary and Rob don't want anyone to try to take the land so they orchestrated this whole thing. They thought that if they could get 'Spooky' Mulder to say their house is haunted then they have it to themselves." "That's a high assumption." "It's the only one we have." "No it isn't." "Mulder there are no ghosts!" Scully screamed. Everyone in the cafe turned to look at them. Someone snickered, "Must have been married a long time to be having fights about ghosts." Scully's face turned beet red. Mulder made suggestion to calm her, "Look we'll go see the real estate agent." "And if she says..." "If she says there's nothing in the house we'll leave." Scully got up and started for the door. Mulder left a tip on the table and on the way out was stopped by an elderly woman, 'Mr. you shouldn't let her go. I know it's not my business but if ya' feel for her you shouldn't let her go." Mulder looked down at the woman and smiled, "You think I would?" He went out to the car where Scully was sitting and set off to the real estate agency. When there they asked about the house the Sliverstones bought and they were directed towards Angela Gram. "May I help you?" Angela asked as they entered the room. "I'm agent Fox Mulder and this is agent Dana Scully of the FBI. We're looking into the strange occurrences in the house you sold four months ago to the Sliverstones." "Uh-oh," Angela muttered. "What?" Scully asked. "I don't know what occurrences you're talking about." "Ghosts," Mulder said before Scully could stop him. Angela's face whitened in color. "What happened?" she asked. "There have been reports from the owners of ghost haunting the house," Mulder said calmly. "If you have any information on this house that we don't know about it needs to be told," Scully added. "Well I had heard strange stories about a ghost haunting the house. I was told not to mention it because we need to sell houses." "Thank you for your cooperation," Mulder said letting out a hand to shake. He and Scully left the agency and headed back to the house. "Mulder you..." Scully started. "She said it, Scully." "She didn't say she believed it." "But she said it." "That doesn't prove anything." "What is going to take, huh? What will it take for you to believe. The bathroom wasn't enough!?" "The bathroom could have been rigged. I need tangible proof." Mulder thought 'big surprise.' "Uh, Scully, this is a ghost, you can't touch it." "Well I need to see it." "Damn it Scully!" he screamed. He saw her melt in her seat. He then felt bad that he had yelled at her. "Sorry, but you have evidence and if you did see him he would hurt you." She stayed quiet the whole ride home. He thought about how to prove it to her without getting her hurt but couldn't. They arrived back at the house with take-out from a local restaurant and sat in the dining room and ate. When finished they sat and started at the table. After a while Scully was going to ask him about sleeping arrangements tonight but the table suddenly started to shake. "What's happening?" Scully asked. "You're tangible proof," Mulder joked. She was going to hit him in the arm when she was flung, with her seat, against the opposite wall. The table also flew towards her and she shrieked. The table hit her hard on the side and then everything got quiet. "Damn you!" Mulder screamed at the house. He went over to her and took the table off her. He could see blood on the back of her shirt. "Scully," he said. She murmured a curse and he helped her up. He looked at her front. "Anything hurt?" he asked. "My back stings," she said slowly. He turned her around and saw that there was a large rip in her shirt. He looked at the floor and saw that a part of the chair had broken off and probably caused the rip and the blood. He couldn't see the cut. "Take off your shirt," he said. She looked at him strangely and he told her, "You have blood on your back and I can't see the cut with your shirt on." "What?" she questioned. "Come up to the bathroom." When there he took his towel and wet it. He placed it on the gash and she breathed in sharply, "Sorry." "It's ok," she said calmly. He cleaned her cut and bandaged it. He felt awkward touching her back but knew he had to. By the time she stopped shaking completely it was growing dark outside. This night he took a shower with her sitting on the toilet. She did the same, both dressing in the tub after bathing. She laid down in bed on her stomach, because her back was sour. He got into bed, under both covers, and they huddled together. At three in the morning the bed rumbled softly waking Scully up. She patted Mulder's chest, waking him up. A soft glow illuminated the room. Scully gasped as she saw a man at the foot of the bed, "Oh my God!" "You said you needed proof," Mulder told her. "The two by four on my back was enough." The man looked at them in bed. The frightened expressions on their faces and he smiled. "Only one way to get me to leave. Find me." "What do you mean?" Mulder asked, but Samuel disappeared. "What did he mean?" "His body was never found," Scully told him. She laid her head back down on Mulder's chest and closed her eyes. "Tomorrow." They woke up and Mulder went to the car to get a metal detector in the trunk. Scully watched in amazement; how did he always know what they would need she thought. Ty spent most of the day searching the land around the house. They found cans and old metal scraps, but no bones. Mulder said that Samuel had a metal watch on and the button on his coat were made of metal, so they had to search for that. At five in the afternoon Scully got tired of looking and sat down in the middle of the yard. He looked at her confused. "Mulder my back hurts, I'm tired and so are you. Why don't we go back in the house and just ask him where he is?" He looked at her and suddenly felt stupid. "Ok," he said. They both went into the house and sat on the couch in the living room. Mulder asked where but Samuel gave no answer so they sat and waited. She had an urge to leave but she knew he wouldn't and she wasn't about to leave Mulder. Then again, she didn't want to lose herself. An hour later there was a small grumble. "What was that?!" Mulder asked excitedly. Scully smiled and looked at him. Then she stood up. "My stomach." She walked over to the kitchen and looked at the refrigerator. They hadn't eaten since breakfast and she couldn't wait until they got to a restaurant. She found ham and started to eat it. He came in the kitchen and stood at the other side, near the door. Suddenly e kitchen light started to flicker and everything started to shake again. Mulder and Scully stood still both still paralyzed when suddenly Scully flew at the opening. She raised her hands to shield her face but she stopped before reaching the hole. She turned to look at him and yelled, "Mulder!", as something unseen punched her arm and sent her flying down the stairs to the basement. "Daaannnaaa!" Mulder screamed running to the hole. He held on to the railing as went down. He bent over her, she wasn't moving. He checked her pulse, yes, weak, but yes. He shook her gently, she groaned. He cradled her in his arms, protecting her. The ghostly figure appeared. "Leave her alone!" Mulder yelled. "I didn't hurt her." "That's bull and you know it!" "Please, give me a decent burial, give me peace." "You almost killed her and you want me to help you?!" "I'm sorry, but you're so close." "To what?" "Me." The man sunk into the floor and it cracked. Mulder looked at Scully. "You ok?" he asked. "Mulder, I think I broke my ankle." "But Dana, you're ok?" he asked, really wanting to know if she'd survive her injuries. "Yeah." He took off his sweater and balled it up under her head as a pillow. He grabbed a shovel that he found in another corner of the basement, keeping an eye on Scully the whole time. He smashed it down into the concrete and broke off a chunk. "Mulder what are you doing?" He stopped and looked at her. She had tears in her eyes and was trembling. "Why are you crying?" he asked innocently, dropping the shovel which flung a chunk of concrete across the room. "Mulder my ankle, it's definitely broken, what am I supposed to do, laugh?" "Sorry." He grabbed the cell phone which was in his pocket and called for an ambulance. "Five Minutes." She nodded and looked over to what he was doing. She gasped. The concrete which was flung across the room left a hole, sticking out of the hole was a bone hand. "Ohmigod!" she quickly cried out. "Samuel Rogers." "I am truly sorry. Thank you," he said softly. Then he disappeared through the roof. They heard the wail of sirens in the distance. Mulder looked down to her and asked, "What do you want to do now?" "Get the hell out of here." He smiled and kissed her on the head. The paramedics came a minute later and took her out on a stretcher for fear that she had broken anything else. No one looked back. The Sliverstones sold the house the day after and left the state. The house alone and deserted. Footsteps, down the hall a man snickered in a corner, "Samuel Rodger wasn't the only ghost in the house." And the ghost of Herald Donevin laughed... The End End note: Ok, there ya go, hope you liked it. Please, tell me what you think, and I don't want twenty comments about hurting Scully. Sorry, I guess I posted this now because I've read a few stories already that had Mulder banged up I thought it was her turn.
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