Chapter 96 - 97: Carrie’s Power and the Items in the Room

Chapter 96: Chapter 97: Carrie’s Power and the Items in the Room

Chapter 97: Carrie’s Power and the Items in the Room

Lionel Cosgrove jumped aside just before the dusty cushion hit the opposite wall. He stared at Carrie White, then at the sofa, and finally broke into a grin. "That is basically the Force from Star Wars. Have you seen those movies?"

Axel Vance picked the cushion up from the floor and brushed some dust from his sleeve. "Ask Steve sometime. You two would probably get along disturbingly well." Carrie, however, did not share their amusement and stared at the cushion with disappointment written across her face.

"I failed," she said quietly. Axel placed the cushion back where it belonged and shook his head. "No, you moved exactly what you were trying to move. You just used too much force."

He stepped away from the sofa and kept his voice steady. "Think of it like learning to walk. If you try to sprint before you understand balance, you’re going to fall." Carrie listened carefully while Axel added, "Your emotions are giving the power too much momentum, so this time relax instead of pushing harder."

Carrie looked toward the sofa again. Axel pointed at the cushion he had just replaced and said, "Don’t treat it like something you hate. Treat it like laundry or a book that simply belongs somewhere else."

He moved another few steps away to give her space. "You don’t need anger, fear, or panic for everything. Just decide what you want to happen and let the power follow that decision." Carrie slowly nodded and closed her eyes.

This time, she deliberately tried to quiet herself. Instead of thinking about the dust as something disgusting that needed to be destroyed, she imagined the simple movements of cleaning she had performed thousands of times at home. In her mind, the dust became something light enough for a gentle breeze to carry away.

Several seconds passed.

The dust covering the sofa trembled.

A thin layer rose from the fabric as though an invisible current had slipped beneath it. At first, only a small patch lifted, but then dust from the armrests, cushions, and nearby coffee table began floating upward as well.

Lionel’s mouth slowly opened.

The gray particles gathered together in front of Carrie.

More joined from the floor.

Then from the corner walls.

Within moments, a soft stream of dust was circling in midair under deliberate telekinetic control. Carrie opened her eyes and stared at what she had done, almost afraid that looking directly at it would cause everything to collapse.

It did not.

The cleaned sofa had recovered much of its original color.

The nearby furniture looked decades younger without the layer of grime coating it.

Even the air in that section of the room seemed clearer.

Carrie’s expression changed completely. For most of her life, every manifestation of her power had arrived alongside fear, humiliation, anger, or something breaking around her. This was the first time she had deliberately used it and achieved exactly the kind of result she wanted.

Axel noticed immediately.

"How does that feel?"

Carrie did not answer at first. Her eyes were brighter than Axel had ever seen them, and the small floating cloud of dust remained stable in front of her instead of exploding outward. Then she turned toward the other side of the enormous hall.

"I think I can do the rest."

There was eagerness in her voice now.

Not fear.

Axel gestured toward the mansion. "Then go ahead."

Carrie stepped into the center of the hall and closed her eyes once more. This time, she did not need Axel to talk her through every step, because she already understood the basic feeling she was trying to reproduce. An invisible telekinetic pressure slowly spread outward from her.

The nearest sheets covering the old furniture lifted into the air. Instead of flying across the room, they shook themselves sharply and released years of accumulated dust in controlled bursts. Dust from the tables, shelves, walls, and decorative trim began lifting at the same time.

The effect continued spreading.

Upstairs, loose cobwebs tore free from ceiling corners.

Small fragments of broken glass rose from beneath windows.

Dust that had settled between floorboards and along window frames peeled away in thin streams.

The old mansion seemed to wake up around them.

Gray currents began flowing through doorways from multiple rooms, crossed the upper landing, and spiraled down the staircase. Everything moved toward Carrie, where the individual streams merged into a growing cloud suspended above the center of the hall.

Lionel slowly backed toward the front doorway. "Okay. This has gone from impressive to ridiculous."

Carrie remained completely focused.

Sweat appeared across her forehead, but her control did not collapse.

The gray cloud grew until it looked like a storm trapped inside the house.

Carrie opened her eyes.

Then she extended one hand toward the open front door.

The cloud surged outside.

A rushing wave of dust swept through the doorway, crossed the overgrown yard, and disappeared toward the distant tree line. When it was gone, sunlight poured through the mansion’s windows more clearly than it had in years.

The change was dramatic.

The old musty smell had faded.

Furniture that had been almost indistinguishable beneath dirt and dust now showed its original wood and fabric.

The rooms still carried a faint chill, but the house no longer felt completely abandoned.

Carrie released a long breath.

Then her knees weakened.

Axel caught her before she could fall.

"You overdid it," he said.

Carrie leaned against him for a moment, breathing heavily. The effort had clearly consumed a tremendous amount of her telekinetic strength, but despite the exhaustion, she looked happier than she had at any point since leaving Greenville. For once, using her power had made something better.

A door opened near the rear of the hall.

Dr. Seth Brundle emerged from the basement completely covered in dust.

His hair, shirt, and face were all gray.

"What the hell are you doing up here?" he asked while blinking through the cleaner air. "I felt the whole house shake. Did we have an earthquake?"

Then he looked around.

Seth froze.

His gaze traveled across the polished floor, newly visible furniture, cleaned staircase, and bright windows.

Finally, he looked down at himself.

Dust fell from his sleeve.

Lionel walked over and patted him sympathetically on the shoulder. "Brother, compared to Carrie, we are cavemen."

Seth continued staring at the hall.

Lionel pointed toward Carrie. "She has the Force."

Axel ignored him and looked toward Seth. "How’s the basement?"

Seth’s expression immediately turned disgusted. "Awful. Absolutely awful."

He brushed grime from his shirt. "It’s damp, buried under junk, smells worse than my college dorm, and I’m pretty sure half the furniture down there has been dead longer than some civilizations." Seth frowned toward the basement entrance and added, "At this rate, I’ll finish cleaning it sometime around retirement."

Carrie had taken a few drinks of water and was already recovering. When Seth complained, she looked toward the basement door and straightened. The excitement from successfully controlling her power had not disappeared yet.

"I’ll help."

Seth stared at her.

Lionel grinned.

Axel had the feeling Seth was about to discover the greatest cleaning service in Miami.

The group descended into the basement together.

Seth had not exaggerated.

The space was enormous but dark and damp, filled with piles of discarded furniture, broken household objects, rotten boxes, and countless things hidden beneath old dust covers. Its only obvious advantages were the amount of room available and a rear door that opened directly toward the outside of the property.

Carrie stood near the entrance and stared at the mess.

Her eyebrows immediately pulled together.

This time, Axel did not need to give her instructions.

She took a breath.

Then the basement began moving.

Old chairs slid away from one wall.

Broken cabinets shifted into a separate pile.

Boxes lifted from the floor and arranged themselves according to size while scraps of wood and damaged household items gathered elsewhere.

Her control was visibly better than it had been upstairs.

Nothing launched across the room.

Nothing smashed into a wall.

Even heavy furniture moved with steady, deliberate force instead of violent bursts.

Lionel leaned against the doorway and watched the entire process with open admiration. "I think we chose the wrong careers."

Seth glanced toward him.

Lionel continued, "Carrie handles moving, you finish your teleportation machine, and we open a moving company. Nobody in Florida could compete with us."

Seth considered it for half a second. "Financially, that might actually work."

Axel looked at both of them. "No."

As Carrie continued clearing the room, more of the basement became visible. The bare walls stretched farther than they had first realized, giving Seth plenty of potential workspace once the place was repaired and equipped. Then Carrie reached the final large object hidden beneath a heavy dust cover.

She lifted the cloth telekinetically.

Everyone stopped talking.

A pile of dolls sat beneath it.

Some were made from cloth, others wood or cheap plastic, and they varied widely in size. Many were missing arms, legs, or eyes, while others had grotesque painted expressions that looked nothing like children’s toys anymore.

Several wooden crates sat beside them.

One had already been left partly open.

Inside were strange medical-looking instruments.

They resembled old surgical tools at first glance, but many were shaped in ways Axel did not recognize from any ordinary hospital equipment.

Another crate contained animal bones.

Some were small.

Others came from larger animals Axel could not identify immediately.

The deepest box was worse.

Rows of glass jars filled the interior.

Something pale floated inside the cloudy liquid.

Organs.

Or pieces of organs.

Most had degraded enough that identifying them at a glance was impossible.

Carrie took an unconscious step backward.

Seth’s fascination disappeared.

Lionel gave a dry cough. "So apparently the dead family had hobbies."

Nobody laughed.

Axel walked closer and picked up one of the rag dolls.

Its eyes were mismatched black buttons, one much larger than the other, while red thread had been sewn across its mouth in an exaggerated smile. The craftsmanship was crude enough to look homemade, but there was something deliberately unpleasant about the design.

Axel turned it over in his hands.

He felt nothing.

No curse and spiritual residue.

No obvious supernatural energy at all.

That almost made it more disturbing.

"These weren’t normal decorations," Axel said.

He set the doll down carefully and examined one of the strange objects from the nearest box. It looked vaguely medical but had been modified enough that Axel could not immediately understand what purpose it served.

Seth crouched beside the crates.

Lionel stared toward the jars.

Carrie remained close to the doorway.

Axel looked across the collection again—the damaged dolls, animal bones, preserved tissue, and unfamiliar instruments hidden beneath the mansion for years. If the family had truly died together in a simple suicide, none of this fit comfortably with the official story.

He lowered the object in his hand.

"Before that family died..."

Axel looked around the basement.

"What the hell were they doing down here?"

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