<br><br><center>*It was crazy―she was an intruder but I didn't want to hurt her.
She seemed so helpless I wanted to protect her. Obviously, I was conflicted.
―John J Geddes*
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*Trapped in the Amber of Time* </center>
<br><br>I put down the billy bat. Coda looked at me astonished.
"What are you doing, Bro? You got an intruder. You need to protect yourself."
"There is no way I'm going to hurt that girl even if she attacks me. Don't ask me why, but I feel protective toward her."
"Okay Guy, you do what you gotta do, but I want to protect myself. I think you're taking a risk."
I shrugged. "I saw her, Coda. I don't think she's dangerous. I know she broke in, but she's more scared than I am."
<br><br>He looked at me and then tossed aside his bat. "I may regret listening to you, but I trust you. I just hope you're right."
We crept back into the house and quietly closed the front door behind us.
The house was incredibly still except for the crackling of logs in the fireplace. It was almost too still for my liking but we proceeded and silently ascended the staircase, Coda leading the way.
If the girl jumped out and said *Boo!* I think we both would have fainted dead away. Yeah, so much for the myth of male dominance. Coda was as a scared as me.
<br><br>A through search of the upstairs convinced us this bird had fled, but how did she get in and how did she escape? We were still working on the premiss that she wasn't the ghost of Anais Ashcroft from the 1920's, but that was subject to change.
The damnable facts were there were no secret panels, but surprisingly in the walk-in closet in my bedroom there was a cleverly concealed dumb waiter I had never noticed before until Coda pointed it out.
He shook his head doubtfully. "The door is sealed but I can get a crowbar and pry it open if you want."
"Pry away," I said. "You have my permission to take down the walls if necessary so I can get an answer and finally get a good night's rest."
<br><br>He went out to his truck and was back in five minutes with a hammer, a crowbar and a heavy-duty flashlight. I think he brought the latter mainly for protection, figuring he could yield it like a policeman if he had to defend himself.
Within two minutes we were peering into an an empty shaft as Coda shone his light down into it.
"There's a knotted rope dangling that reaches to the bottom―we should shinny down and see where it leads."
"Lead on, Macduff," I deadpanned, knowing my allusion would be lost on him but the grim humour cheered me on regardless.
<br><br>Coda went down first and then held the rope steady for me as I carefully descended into the dark shaft. He found another door and pried it open and we were in a cavernous darkness I assumed it was my basement, but slowly discovered it wasn't as Coda played the flashlight beam around the huge space.
"Where the hell are we?" I whispered hoarsely.
"I have no idea, Bro―this isn't my house. But I suspect it's a sub-basement."
He played his light beam along the wall and discovered a light switch that he turned on and flooded the space with bright light that momentarily blinded us until our eyes adjusted.
"I had no idea this space was here," I whispered hoarsely. "This house is full of surprises."
"You don't know the half of it," he rasped as his light beam probed a dim recess where the main light didn't penetrate.
I realized what he meant. There, curled up in a sleeping bag, was my ghost girl, clinging to a pillow as if to shield herself from us.
She looked so forlorn my heart melted.
<br><br> <center>To be continued…</center>
<br><center>© 2022, John J Geddes. All rights reserved</center>
<br><center>[Photo](https://www.flickr.com/photos/22702991@N02/3719127517/in/photostream/lightbox/)</center>
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