Jerry and me turned on to turn her road and drove up to missus Garretty's house on the gray, rainy late spring day, certain that the old woman was just overreacting yet again to something relatively minor and her imagination was playing tricks on her. She was waiting for us outside on her porch when we pulled to a stop. I'll never forget how she looked shocked me. She'd already been a thin and frailed woman the other times we've been out there, but we hadn't seen her in probably a couple months since her last false emergency. She had changed drastically since then. Now she was gaunt, almost emaciated, her cheeks hollow, and dark rings under her bloodshots, sunken eyes, Her gray hair was tangled and didn't look like it had been washed in days, maybe weeks, and the dress she was wearing was wrinkled and dirty. Her physical appearance was alarming enough. There was also something about the way she was staring at both of us, with those dull, dark eyes that seemed to look at us, through us, and passed us all at once, remind me of old photos I've seen of American soldiers in Vietnam, the blank expressionist, shell shocked look of someone who had been through more horror than any ordinary person should have to endure. Me and Jerry exchange a shocked look that got out and approached the old woman. What seems to be the trouble, missus gerrity, Jerry asked her, trying to keep his voice nonchalant. There's something in my house, she told us a flat, toneless voice. She was shaking slightly, a woman on the verge of total physical and mental exhaustion. The way she phrased it, not someone, but something made me raise my eyebrow. Well, you just wait here and we'll go have a look and make sure it's safe, I told her, trying not to sound too patronizing. I looked to Jerry and nodded. We drew our pistols and stepped past Miss Garrety cautiously. Entering the house, we did a routine sweep of the first floor, our guns were leveled heading then we headed upstairs. Oh, it took about five minutes to check out the house. We had done it so many times before. We had to lay out down pat and there was no sign of any intruders or evidence would break in and entering, I saw plenty of other things that disturbed me deeply. For one thing, the place was a total mess. The house was already pretty decrepit, Missus Garretty had still taken pride at how clean she kept it. It had always been spicking spin on our earlier visits. Now dirty dishes were stacked so high in the kitchen sink. The counters were dirty and trash, and dirty laundry littered the floors. I noticed that missus garritty pillow and blankets were lying rumbled on the couch in the living room. The surface of the coffee table in front of it was cluttered with half drunk cups of coffee, open containers of food, a bible, and a rosary. It looked like she's been eating and sleeping in the living room for some time. We went upstairs. Sure enough, the bed and Missus Garretty's room was bare, and the room itself looked like it had been vacant for quite a while. There was also something in the living room that really alarmed me. Leaning in one corner was an old double barreled shotgun that probably belonged to her late husband. Jerry picked it up, broke it open, and found two spent shells in the chamber, took one out and stepped it. They told me the gun had been fired very recently. We also discovered something else bizarre. All of the mirrors and Missus Garretty's house had been shattered, and every closet door had been boarded shut. That won in the front hall on the first floor had a huge hole blasted in the center of smaller holes pitting the splintered wood around it. He didn't need to be shock Holms to deduce that Missus Garrity had fired her shotgun into that door. But why what the fuck had happened here? Jerry shot me a perplexed, questioning look. I shrugged, cooled ass and in equally bewildered. Finished with our inspection of the house, we put away our pistols and turned around to go back outside. Missus Garretty was standing in the room behind us, staring at us with that unnerving blank expression. Both of us almost jumped a foot in the air, startled. Neither of us had heard her enter. Jerry regained his composure and flash her a fake, reassuring smile. We don't see any side of a Missus Garretty must have slipped out the back. You're safe now. She didn't relax or peer relieved, like she had the countless other times we had humored her. Her face seemed to twitch, and some new look dawned in her eyes. Took me a moment to identify it. It was a look of pure hopeless doom mixed with utter terror. No, she said, and that same odd, listless, flat voice. I'm not safe. It's still here. It's hiding, that's why you couldn't find it, And after you leave, it'll come back for me. Then she began to quiver. She started to cry with total despair, breaking down into hysterical sobs that racked her whole body. Jerry and me looked at each other concerned. We went to the old woman and comfort her as best as we could, guiding her over to the couch, sending her down with us on either side, er coaxing her gently back to a state of calm. The story progresses here and they arrive on the scene. I guess is what you'd say, yea, And things are a little bit different than they typically are. Yeah, say so, seems like clearly she's in quite a bit more disarray than normal, Like like physically, they can see it on her. Yeah, she hasn't. She doesn't look like she's been eating well. She looks tired, She definitely looks scared. And beyond that, she's not taking care of herself. She's not cleaning her hair or her dress, she's not cleaning her home. Everything about this definitely seems like not the usual case. And she said something okay with the creepy part, and I have to go find them exactly where it is. But she used the word it y. Yeah, she says something in it, and so like she's not referring to this as a person, and she's not even really referring to you give to the sense of that she's not talking about an animal either, She's not talking about a raccoon. This definitely seems like something else. And the fact that she actually is doing some strange things in this house, like all her mirrors are smashed, and her closet doors are all boorded shut. And she hasn't slept in her room for quite some time. All the pillows and blankets are on the couch. They said, yeah, on the couch, and that's where she's also got like some amounts of food and coffee around on the coffee table. There, So coffee would make you think maybe that she's afraid to sleep. Sounds like she's not in her room. Yeah, afraid to sleep. So I think the next part though, is what's crazy. They find the shotgun, a couple spent shellcasings in it, and Jerry actually smells it. You could tell that the weapons recently been fired. Yeah, Then they see the hole blasted in the closet. Tour so we know at this point in time, she at least thinks something is in that house and she's gone I don't want to say gone crazy in the meanway, but she has a very extreme reaction to this situation by firing a gun off in your house. The best circumstances. This seems like you have someone who's losing their mind fully and it is, you know, just destroying everything around them. It's a very touchy situation to be in because now they got to, you know, find out what's going on and then try to take care of her. But they can't really at this point, you know, she's possibly a danger or someone. Yeah, they did a really good job dealing with her that I feel like, Yeah, they're being a crazy thing. To walk into, and I feel like these guys that a really good job handling it. Definitely so far. Yeah, for sure, But you can't be easy. You walk into that situation where this house has just just been destroyed basically, and you're reacting to it. Well, not only that, you go there every week, every couple weeks, every couple of months, and there's just so much worse this time. So to your point, it's got to be very concerning. But the first thing they got to do is get her calm down. Yeah, definitely, and then maybe get some answers. Yep. Jeff Townsend media sees you good night, and the question is do I stay here? Will you be back? Are you gonna come back? Will you be back? Are you coming back
