My name is Jack and I have a strange talent, I find things. I noticed it at an early age. Someone would mention that they had lost something, and no matter how long they had looked for it themselves, I could always find it within a short time.

Once, I came home from school to find my mom frustrated. She told me that she had spent all day looking for an important document my dad needed for work. She swore she had placed it on his desk when it had come in the mail a few days before, but it was nowhere to be found, and he needed it ASAP. I began looking.

After a few minutes, I noticed something off about my father’s desk. He usually kept a stack of magazines on the corner of it, but now they were missing. I asked mom about them. Puzzled by my interest in the missing periodicals, she went to the closet and returned to the desk with a box.

I opened it and began removing magazines, one at a time. Finally, I came to one that felt different from the rest, and when I opened it, there was the envelope containing the document. My dad must have been reading, needed a bookmark, and grabbed the envelope, not thinking about what it was. Mom was relieved and embarrassed at the same time. She had initially gathered the magazines to be recycled, but dad had told her there were a couple he was still reading, so she placed them in a box and put them in the closet.

Don’t know if I am just extra observant or what, I just know I can find damn near anything someone has lost. Over time, my talent has become well known among my family, friends, and coworkers, to the point that they all keep me pretty busy looking for shit. I really should start charging for my services. I could retire early from my real job.

Speaking of my job, it’s part of the reason for this post. I work in an office with several other people at a small company. I won’t go into too much detail about the job, because it’s not really pertinent to this post. Anyways, I was at my desk one afternoon when one of my coworkers, Kara, approached.

I’m not going to lie, I have had a thing for Kara for a while. Maybe it’s the long brunette hair, or long tan legs, I don’t know, but she’s a sweetheart, and I was for sure glad she was coming my way.

She sat on the corner of my desk and smiled down at me. “So, I need you to find something for me,” she said.

Damn, I should have known she hadn’t come by to talk about my handsome, good looks. I smiled back at her. “I am happy to help,” I told her. “What did you lose?” Her smile faded. “Before you say yes, there is a lot more to it, than just a simple lost item. Can you come by my house this evening? I will make dinner, then fill you in on the details, after that you can make your decision on whether to help me or not.”

I wanted to tell her I would walk through the hottest hellhole on Earth to do anything for her, but I didn’t want to sound creepy, so I just politely accepted her invite. She wrote the address on a post-it, gave me an unexpected peck on the cheek, and off she went.

The rest of the afternoon couldn’t go any slower. I know it was because of my excitement over dinner with Kara. Finally, four o’clock hit and I wasted no time getting home to get ready for the evening.

I arrived at her place just before seven. I hadn’t been sure what to expect when Kara had given me her address. Being in her early twenties like me, I just assumed she lived in an apartment, and lord knows we don’t get paid a lot at work, but her place, while older, was a huge house that bordered on being a mansion.

I walked up to the door and knocked. I could hear it echo throughout the house. In just a moment she opened the door.

Kara was dressed casually in snug-fitting jeans topped off with a Def Leppard t-shirt. “Come in, she said. “Dinner still likes a bit.”

We walked down a hallway and into a medium-sized living room. “Have a seat,” she told me. “Would you like a beer?” “Sure,” I said sitting down on the couch.

While she was gone, I took in my surroundings. Kara definitely had good taste.

After a couple of minutes, she returned with two bottles of craft beer. “Thanks,” I said accepting one of the bottles. She sat down on the other end of the couch. “This place is awesome,” I told her. “Yeah it is,” she replied. She told me how the house had been her grandparents, and how she inherited it after her grandmother had passed away. “It’s really too big for me,” she said looking around. “That’s why I only use the downstairs.”

We spent the next little while making small talk. Because we only had a casual acquaintance at work, we never realized how much we had in common. If anything, I could sense the start of a good friendship, and maybe more. “I bet the food is ready,” Kara said after a time.

I followed her to the kitchen, and like the rest of the house, it too was pretty big.

Since Kara had already sat the table, I asked her if she needed me to help her with serving the meal. “No sir,” she replied wryly. “Just sit tight and enjoy your beer. There’s more in the fridge if you need another."

I sat and sipped as Kara served the meal. It was pot roast with brown gravy, carrots, and potatoes, and it looked delicious.

As we ate, we talked and laughed. We were having a great time “Why didn’t we do this sooner,” I asked? Kara smiled wryly. “Probably because you never asked.” I didn’t know what to say, so I just sat there and looked at her like a dumbass. After a moment she winked playfully, before continuing. “I’m just saying, it’s usually customary for a guy, when he likes a girl, to ask them out.” I smiled at her. “Point taken M’lady,” I said in my most stately voice. She busted out laughing, and then I joined her.

Finally, with dinner finished, and dishes done, we returned to the living room with fresh beers. “I need you to find my grandmother Pearl’s locket,” she told me as we got settled in on the couch, a little closer to one another this time, I might add.

I asked her when she had it last, and where. “That’s why this isn’t going to be easy,” she said. “I’ve never had it.” I looked at her confused, and she told me the story.

The locket had been given to Pearl as a child by her parents. Her younger sister, Patricia, had always been jealous of Pearl in every way and especially desired the locket. Because of this, Pearl hardly ever took it off, and when she did, it was never for long, and it never left her sight. This didn’t keep Patricia from trying to get it in any manner she could. When her more underhanded efforts didn’t work, she would come right out and ask for the locket. This continued over the years and into the girls’ adulthood. Patricia’s obsession with possessing the locket fueled Pearl’s obsession to keep it at all cost, with the end of the affair only coming with Patricia’s death. After that Pearl was finally able to let the issue go, for a time anyway. Not too long before her death, the locket disappeared, and Pearl went to her grave broken-hearted over the loss of it.

“I know it’s in this house,” Kara finished. “I think Grandmother sat it down somewhere, and because her mind was beginning to slip, she didn’t remember where. My parents told me if I could find it, then it would be mine. Will you help me?”

I thought about Kara’s request while looking around the room. This was a big house and an equally big request. Normally, I helped people find things that they themselves lost, like keys or other random things, and usually, they had an idea where they lost their missing items, to begin with, but this was going to be a challenge.

Kara sat there looking back at me in anticipation. I returned her look. Who was I kidding? Challenge or not, I couldn’t tell her no. As I said, I would do anything for her, and after spending the evening getting to know her better, I had decided I really liked this girl, and I think she liked me. I told her I would help her. This time she gave me more than just a quick peck on the cheek.

Over the next few nights, I spent most of my waking time at Kara’s house. We would work on the search for the first half of the evening, then we would hang out, eat dinner, then watch a movie or whatever. Afterward, we would make one more run-through of the area we had searched earlier, that way we would hopefully catch anything we might have missed earlier. We finished the first floor of the house in roughly a week. If you are going to find things, you have to be thorough.

We took Friday night off to go out on a legitimate date. Yeah, that’s right, I grew a set and asked, and you know what, it was a great date. I might have a girlfriend now. Just had to get that out there, now back to the story.

It was a Saturday when were to begin on the second floor. I arrived at Kara’s that morning ready to get started, but she told me she needed to talk about something first.

We sat down at the kitchen table. It was obvious something was bothering Kara. “What’s wrong,” I asked her? She took a drink of her coffee. “I have to tell you something about the second floor before we go up there,” she said. “As you know, I really only use the first floor of the house. I told you it was because I live here alone, which is true, but there is more to it than that. This house has been in my family for several generations, and with an old house like this, there are going to be deaths that happen in the home. Both of my grandparents died here, as well as my great grandmother and some other family members before her. Strange things happen in this house, and most of it happens upstairs. That’s why I typically stay down here. I go up periodically to check on things, but I tend to get in and get out. To be honest, I hate it up there. It feels wrong to me, and if the locket wasn’t so important to my family and I, I would never set foot up there again.”

Now, I had joked in the past about my talent being some sort of ESP, but I never really believed it, and I definitely didn’t believe in ghosts or haunted houses, but it was obvious Kara did. She was scared. I could see it in her eyes, but she was also determined.

“I’m not worried about anything living or dead that hangs out up there,” I told her. “Let’s go find your locket.

We began up the staircase, Kara taking hold of my hand. “You okay,” I asked? She smiled tentatively. “I’m good,” she said squeezing my hand. We reached the top landing, and I won’t lie, it definitely felt different up here.

Off the stairs, the hall went in both directions, with five doors coming off the hall. “Which way first,” I asked? Kara pointed to the left. “That way.”

We walked down the hall and opened the door to the first room. Upon entering, it was obvious this was a little girl’s room.

“This was my grandmother’s room when she was a kid,” Kara told me as she looked around. This is the only room up here that I feel okay with.” I looked around the room myself, taking in everything, and getting a feel for things. When I felt I had enough of an impression, I began looking.

I’m very methodical when I am doing my thing. I start from the left and work my way to the right, looking in and around everything in a room. Usually, as I am searching, I come across more subtle places an item could be.

As I searched, Kara told me more about Pearl and her life in the house. As young girls, Pearl and Patricia were placed in neighboring rooms, Pearl in this one, and Patricia in the one next door. As the rivalry between the girls grew, Patricia took advantage of the fact the two rooms shared a wall. She would stay up late at night, just long enough for Pearl to fall asleep, then she would beat on the wall next to where Pearl’s bed would be, disturbing her sleep. This went on for a good while before their father finally made Patricia move to the room at the other end of the hall. Because it was situated above the master bedroom on the ground floor, Pearl’s parents could hear when Patricia got out of bed in the night, putting an end to that annoyance at least, but Patricia could always find other ways to cause drama with her sister.

The girls grew up. Pearl married, but Patricia didn’t, and this just added to the drama between the two sisters. Things really heated up when Pearl’s father died. Her mother, not wanting to live in the house alone, asked Pearl and her husband to move their family into the house. Patricia, who felt like she should be the one to move into the house since she was unmarried, was furious, and after a huge fight, she stopped speaking to the family for years. It also didn’t help things, when Kara’s dad, who was in his teens when the family moved into the house, took one of the guest rooms as his room, causing Patricia’s room to be changed to a guest room, while Pearl’s was left untouched. Patricia only came back around when the desire for the locket, got too great for her to ignore.

“Your great-aunt was definitely a ray of sunshine,” I told Kara. She chucked. “Yeah, Grandmother always said that’s why she never was able to find a man.”

We finished up in Pearl’s room and went next door. It was also a bust. The bathroom was next, and that’s when things started getting strange.

“I don’t like the bathroom. I’ll stay in the hall if you don’t mind,” Kara told me. I entered the bathroom.

It didn’t look much different than any other bathroom, it was just old, and there really wasn’t many places to look. I walked to the sink and looked at the mirror above it. It was very ornate and definitely old.

I crouched down and opened the cabinet below the sink. It was empty for the most part, just a few cleaning supplies. I felt around just in case there might be a hidden cubby at the back. Satisfied, I stood up, catching a glimpse of the mirror.

There was a little girl standing behind me. I was instantly covered in goosebumps. “What the hell,” I yelled.

I turned around and there was no one there.

Kara appeared in the doorway. “What happened,” she asked? I was still freaked out. “I swear I just saw a little girl standing right behind me when I looked in the mirror,” I told her. She shivered as she backed away from the doorway. “Like I said, not a fan of the bathroom,” she told me.

I finished searching the room, at a quick, but still, thorough pace then got out.

Kara’s dad’s room was next. We took our time in this room, but when we were almost finished, I noticed Kara seemed upset.

“You still okay,” I asked? She shook her head. “I’m not looking forward to the last room,” she told me. “It’s Aunt Patricia’s room, and I hate that room with a passion.” I put my arm around her. “Maybe you should go back downstairs. I'll search it.” She shook her head. “No, I don’t think you should go in there by yourself. It’s not a good room.” I started to argue the point with her, but the look on her face told me it was not up for discussion. We finished her dad’s room and went back into the hall.

We stood outside Patricia’s door for the longest time. I don’t know if it was Kara’s fear rubbing off on me or what, but I sure didn’t want to go into that room either. I had just about built up the nerve to open the door when Kara beat me to it. She turned the knob, pushed it open, and we stepped inside.

She turned every light on and opened the window curtains. “A little light never hurts,” she said half smiling.

The room still felt ominous, despite the light, but I began searching anyway. After I don’t know how long I was coming to the end of my search, and there was still no sign of the locket. I looked at Kara. She had a look of both disappointment and relief, on her face. “I hoped so much it wasn’t in this room, but at the same time, I expected it to be here,” she said to me.

I looked around the room one more time, hoping to see something I had missed. Something told me the locket was here. Just when I was about to give up, I saw something off about one of the baseboards next to the bed. I crouched down to inspect it and found it was loose. Behind it was, surprise, a hidden cubby. I reached my hand inside and pulled out a wrapped bundle. I could feel Kara’s anxious eyes on me as I unwrapped the bundle. It was an old diary and several other trinkets. I turned the diary over in my hands, inspecting the latch. It had been there a long time, and luckily the latch was brittle enough, that it just fell apart. I opened the diary to find it hollowed out. The locket was inside. I pulled it out and turned to show Kara. The little girl from the bathroom was standing right behind her. My jaw hit the floor.

“PUT THAT BACK,” the girl yelled. “IT’S MINE.”

Kara turned in the direction of the voice, her eyes going wide upon seeing the girl.

Before either of us could react, everything in the room flew at me. I ducked the best I could but some of it hit me regardless. Kara tried to run for the door, but it slammed shut. She tried to pull it open, but it wasn’t budging. I clutched the locket to me as I crawled towards Kara, dodging flying debris along the way. I was almost to her when shit really hit the fan.

The girl, who had been focusing her attention mostly on me, turned to Kara, and with the change in focus, everything flying around the room, dropped to the floor. Then with a jerking like motion, the girl advanced on Kara, and before I knew what was happening, she lunged at her and disappeared.

Kara stopped pulling at the door, and just stood there. I got to my feet and started to approach her, but something told me to stop. “Kara, you okay over there,” I asked? She turned slowly towards me, but the person in front of me was not Kara.

What was once a sweet face framed by beautiful brunette hair, was now twisted with hate and framed by a lifeless, stringy mess of hair. She looked like she had aged a century in a span of seconds.

“The little bitch isn’t here anymore,” the former Kara said in an unnatural voice. “Now give me back my locket you thief.”

I backed away from the possessed woman as she slowly advanced towards me. I was scared shitless, but I couldn’t let this thing get the locket or keep my girlfriend. I decided the best course of action was to play the tough guy card.

“You must be Auntie Patricia,” I said tauntingly. Her face contorted with fury. “DON’T CALL ME THAT,” she screamed. “I am no aunt to this trollop or anyone else in her family. Now give me my locket.” “No,” I told her. “It’s not yours, and it never was.” Her eyes blazed at me. “I took it from my bitch sister fair and square, so it’s mine. Now give it to ME.”

Before I could react, she lunged at me, knocking me to the floor. She was a hell of a lot stronger than she looked.

We struggled on the floor, with me trying my damnedest to hold onto the locket, and her trying to get it. She clawed, bit, and screamed as she tried to wrestle the locket from me. I swear it was like fighting a damn cat. “GIVE IT TO ME,” she kept screaming.

I finally got my knees between us. “STUFF IT YOU DEAD BITCH,” I yelled as I kicked her off of me. She went sprawling while I crouched, ready for her next attack. “It’s not your locket, and I am not letting you have it, now get the fuck out of my girlfriend.”

I was expecting unbridled fury, but instead, I got the unexpected, she began to sob, all the while saying how unfair it was, she never got her own locket, and how Pearl always got everything. That’s when I found the key to ending the situation, hopefully anyway.

She might have been a pissed off, angry ghost, but she was also just a little girl. I decided to run with it.

“Patricia, you are a selfish hateful child, and you will stop this tantrum at once,” I told her sternly. She looked up at me, eyes streaming tears. It wasn’t exactly Kara’s face looking at me, but it wasn’t the horrible one it had been either. “Now you stole your sister’s locket, and that was very wrong, but I know you can be a good girl. Can’t you?” She began nodding her head, and like that Kara was back, and Patricia stood beside her. “That’s a good young lady. Now, since Pearl isn’t here, the locket belongs to Kara. If I give it to you to look at, will you give it to Kara when you're done?” Patricia nodded again saying yes.

Kara, still slightly disoriented, watched as I handed the locket to the little girl. She looked at it, turning it over in her hands, finally springing the catch so that it opened. Inside were the pictures of her mother and father. “All I ever wanted was a locket of my own, but because I stayed in trouble, Mother and Father never would buy me one.” I smiled at her. “Maybe if you can be a really good girl, I can get you one of your own,” I told her. Patricia’s little face lit up. “You really meant it,” she asked? I nodded my head. “I would really like that,” she said. She looked at Kara and then handed her the locket. “Here you can have this one. He is going to give me one of my own,” she told her.

Poor Kara, she was still about halfway in shock from all the crazy shit that had just happened, but at least she had it together enough to tell Patricia thank you. With that done, the little girl faded away, but I knew she wasn’t completely gone. She would still be around to make sure I held up my end of the bargain.

I helped Kara to her feet, and we went downstairs. I spent the rest of that day playing nurse, and by that evening she was more or less good as new. I, on the other hand, felt like a bag of slapped ass, that had gotten into it with a mountain lion.

The next day, we went together to a jewelry store and bought the prettiest little girls’ locket they had. We took the pictures out of Kara’s locket, had them copied, and then placed them in the new locket.

Back at Kara’s house, we both climbed the stairs and delivered the now wrapped locket to Patricia’s room. Instantly the atmosphere in the room, as well as the rest of the upstairs part of the house, changed, feeling lighter.

Returning downstairs, Kara and I collapsed onto her couch. It had been one hell of a weekend, and we sat there for the longest time, neither of us saying anything. Finally, she broke the silence.

“I’ll never be able to repay you for this,” she said. “You found the locket, and you put the spirit of my aunt to rest.” I smiled at her. “Don’t worry about it,” I told her. “It was nothing, besides, for you, I’d walk through hell.” She laughed. “Or fight possessed girlfriends,” she asked? “That too,” I told her smiling.

My name is Jack and I find things. Most of the time, it’s mundane stuff like keys, wallets, jewelry, etc., but now, besides finding a girlfriend, I’ve figured out I can find other, more unconventional things. So, if you need help finding something, no matter what it is, just let me know. There is nothing I have not yet been able to find.X