“Saw what?” Rosie asked.
“You know what I mean!”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Rosie, it’s me, remember? The one you tell your deepest, darkest secrets to — including creepy tales from the other side.”
Rosie turned her way. “Who’s the old lady with the white hair? She smiles a lot and seems nice.”
Tonya’s eyes widened. “You’ve seen my grammy?”
“I don’t know. Probably.”
“Did she say anything to you?” She sat up a little.
“No, she didn’t.” Rosie told her the exact location where the woman stood and how she followed her mother, Judy, into the room when she came to ready them for bed.
“She follows her?”
“Apparently.”
Tonya rested her head on the fluffy pillow again. “Wow. That’s weird.”
“Anyway, I’m going to sleep.” Rosie turned over again.
Tonya nudged her a second time. “You can’t sleep now!”
“Why not?” Rosie looked at her. She was clearly visible from the light in the hallway.
“I’m scared.”
“Scared? Aren’t you the same one who said you love horror movies? You’re afraid of ghosts?”
“Horror movies are fake. This is real life! I didn’t know a ghost was in our house — relative or not!”
“Not just one— three.”
Tonya almost fell out of bed. She sat straight up. “What?”
“Yeah. A man and a strange looking, wild-eyed woman,” Rosie confirmed.
“Who are they?”
“Beats me. I’m sleepy. Can’t talk anymore.”
“Well, how am I supposed to get to sleep now?”
Rosie suddenly felt she’d made a mistake by telling Tonya those things. The last thing she wanted was to be accused of frightening her friend in her own house. That way, it was bound to be her first and final sleepover there and probably a complete halt to her visits in general. “Just kidding!” She giggled.
Tonya frowned.
“I lied about the whole thing just to see the expression on your face.”
Tonya returned to her pillow. Rosie’s admission sounded like music to her ears. “Wait a minute! If you lied, how come you described my grammy?”
“A good guess. How many old people do you know have white hair; smiles a lot and are friendly?” Rosie replied.
“I s’pose you have a point. It fits a segment of the population.”
“Go to sleep now, scardy cat!” Rosie turned over again.
Now facing her was the young woman she’d seen downstairs. She was standing next to the closet and gazing at her. Rosie shut her eyes tightly and tried to focus on something pleasant. She knew from the motherly school of Mira that she could not prevent ghostly intruders from invading her space, but she had the power to not allow their presence to control or negatively affect her.
“Burn it to the ground!” the woman repeated in a loud, eerie whisper.
* * *
Sara’s groaning in the other room jolted Mira from her sleep. It was 2:10 a.m., according to the alarm clock on her nightstand. As was now the norm, Mira expected the late night disturbance to go on for a little while longer, then all will be quiet again. Her inclination was to get up and check on her, but Sara did tell her lately to ignore the noise. Lethargy tended to agree with Sara’s suggestion. Rolling over again, Mira soon heard a shrilling scream which terrified her.
Arriving at Sara’s room, she switched on the light only to find her mother writhing in bed and sweating profusely. Her eyes were tightly shut and she seemed to be living her apparent nightmare.
“Mom! Wake up!” Mira shook her. But Sara was still firmly locked in a state of sleep.
“Wake up, Mom!” Mira repeated, this time shaking her harder.
Finally, Sara snapped out of it and opened her eyes. The look in them took Mira by surprise. Within the enlarged pupils, which were a few shades darker than they normally were, Mira saw the image of someone suspended in mid-air – as if he or she were dangling from something. She couldn’t make out anything more as the figure was all black and no features were distinguishable. Her heart sank as she feared what this could possibly mean for Sara. As she continued to gaze into her mother’s eyes, the image she beheld spontaneously burst into flames.
Sara slowly sat up and as she did, the images faded away.
“What’s … happened?” Sara asked.
Mira was speechless.
“Mira, what’s going on?” Worry filled Sara’s voice as she’d noticed her stare.
Mira tried to conceal her fear. She thought, Certainly this is another sign. “You had another nightmare,” she finally said.
“I’m sorry I woke you again, honey.” She touched Mira’s face tenderly.
“It’s all right, Mom. Are you okay now?”
“I’m fine.” Sara nodded.
“Are you ready to talk about it?”
“Must we always do this, Mira? Even in the middle of the night?”
“I’m going back to bed.” Mira got up and headed for the door.
“Honey...”
She stopped in the doorway without bothering to turn around.
“I’m really sorry I woke you. I promise you I’m all right.”
Mira continued on to her bedroom. Sara’s recent behavior was nothing she could see herself getting accustomed to. She’s never been so secretive, especially after Michael died. Now Mira wondered who that person was in the other room.
6
_________________
“Where are you going?” Sara was standing in the kitchen washing the dishes they had used for breakfast.
Mira had just entered the living room and was positioning a gold knob in her ear. She was dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a silky rose-colored blouse.
“I’m going to meet Bryant Sylvester. I think I mentioned he called yesterday about some trouble he was having in his home.”
“Oh, yeah. I remember.”
Sara felt guilty about the other night and it showed. “Honey, are you mad at me?” she asked.
“Mad? For what?”
“You are. I can tell. I just wanna...”
Mira snatched her purse from the couch. “Not now, Mom. I gotta go.” She headed for the door.
“Okay, be careful out there, then. You never know what you’ll meet when you walk into someone’s house.”
“I will, thanks.”
Mira hadn’t told her what Bryant mentioned had happened to the paranormal investigator he’d asked to visit his home. She felt her mother had enough on her mind already.
Driving towards the cemetery where her father was buried, which was the same road where she’d almost lost her life in a freak accident nearly two years earlier, Mira’s thoughts weighed heavily on what she saw in Sara’s eyes earlier that morning. Could her mother be in danger? And is this really one of the signs Matilda had spoken to Rosie about? Minutes later, as if awaking from a dream, she heard the screeching of tires and a vehicle’s horn blaring. To her horror, she realized she was driving head-on toward a large, freight truck. She quickly swerved to the side, skidding in the process until she came to a complete stop further up the road, nearly onto the sidewalk.
She pushed the gear into park and sat still, looking straight ahead with her heart pounding inside her chest. Then, Bryant’s words drifted into her mind – what he said about being careful.
Just then, her cell phone rang and she quickly picked up. It was Rosie.
“Hi, honey.”
Mira sounded out of breath.
“Went for a run or something, Mom?” Rosie asked.
“No. I’m in my car.”
“I know we spoke already this morning, but are you all right?”
Mira glanced through the rear-view mirror at the oncoming traffic.
“I am. Why do you ask?”
“I just felt something was off; that’s all.”
> “Trust me, honey. I’m perfectly fine. Go and have fun with Tonya and the others. I’m on my way to a client’s house for a meeting, so we’ll talk later, okay?”
“Um, so...they’re clients now, Mom?” Rosie inquired.
“I don’t know how else to describe them. I’m not being paid, but I think client will do. Don’t you?”
“Maybe you need to start charging for your time. I’m sure people won’t mind since they know you’re the real deal.” She chuckled.
“Very funny. Guess I should start my own ghost-busting business, huh?” Mira proposed.
“Well, you’re doing it anyway.”
“Okay, that’s enough. I’ll talk to you later, honey. Thanks for checking on me.” She hung up the phone.
Her motherly instincts knew the reason for Rosie’s call. The child had sensed the danger Mira had found herself in just moments earlier.
Mira took off up the street and this time paid more attention to what was actually in front of her than what was on her mind.
* * *
The Sylvesters’ house was a quaint white cottage with a hipped roof and light brown asphalt shingles. The narrow driveway extended about fifty feet in length from the roadway, and parked there in front of the house was a 1980s Volkswagen behind a later model Buick.
Bryant appeared at the front door the moment Mira pulled up. As she got out of the car, he hurried over to her.
“Doctor Cullen,” he extended both hands, “I’m so happy you came.” Bryant was fifty-years old, of medium height and weighed no more than one hundred and fifty pounds. He had short, black, thinning hair and was of Latin-American descent.
Mira stood outside of the car for a few moments and looked at the house. A woman inside at the window caught her eye. “Is that your wife?”
“Yes!” he replied. “That’s Lucille.”
She met Mira at the front door. “Doctor, we’re so relieved you’re here. We didn’t know what else to do.”
Lucille was three years older than her husband, tall and looked on the frail side. Her hair was mostly gray and fell limply at her shoulders.
“It’s nice to meet you both.” Mira smiled.
Bryant invited her in and they all stood in the center of the living room.
“This is it,” he said. “Our entire life savings.”
The living room was completely void of any decorating. It consisted of a single couch with a rectangular glass table set in front of it and the curtains at both windows were brown with lighter and darker patterns running throughout the fabric. Mira assumed that either these people had no interest in beautifying their home or depression had set in shortly after they’d moved there and thus was the reason nothing more came of the space. Besides, the couple seemed to only be hanging on by a thread. The atmosphere surrounding them was gloomy and dispirited, although they tried to appear different.
“Do you mind?” Mira asked, gesturing for a walk.
“No. Feel free to look around,” Bryant said. “We’ll be right here when you get back.”
The Sylvesters remained in that very spot, holding hands as Mira made her way around the living room and then the kitchen.
As she proceeded down the hallway, black shadows darted past her on both sides. She kept her focus straight ahead, deciding not to give them the attention she knew they craved. She opened the door of the first of two bedrooms and walked inside. The wall had been painted a light tan color and a large bed and two tall bureaus occupied the space. The double window was shielded with vertical wooden blinds which actually gave the room a bit of personality when compared to that of the living room. The entities she’d seen via her peripheral vision entered along with her. She saw one sliding under the bed; another under the blue comforter on top of the mattress; another in the closet and others moved around randomly along the walls, ceiling and other parts of the floor. She had no idea how many there were in total, but knew there were many.
After leaving that room, Mira walked across the hallway toward the other bedroom. Upon entering, she quickly folded her arms, as the temperature inside was a vast difference from the rest of the house. It was extremely cold; close to freezing.
The room was a bit smaller than the previous one she’d been in and stocked with various-sized boxes and other household items. It didn’t take long for Mira to notice something straight ahead that was clearly out of the ordinary. In fact, what she saw horrified her as she knew it bore the brunt of responsibility for everything ungodly the Sylvesters were experiencing.
“My God!” she quietly exclaimed, covering her mouth with both hands.
Straight across the opposite end of the room was a large oval-shaped energy vortex which housed a four-dimensional vibratory frequency. The colors ingrained in it were luminous shades of blues, purples and whites. Then she heard the voices – conversations, pleadings that she wished she could block out somehow. Some of the voices were calm, but many were a mixture of angry and fearful. She saw the shadow figures again. Some went into the vortex and others slid out. The scene was stunning and captivating, and she stepped back as she sensed its tremendous power. Suddenly, she heard a shriek from the front part of the house and without a second thought, ran toward the sound.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
The Sylvesters were still standing in the living room, but they looked more agitated and frightened than when she’d left them.
Lucille was tearful as her husband held her closely.
“Look!” Bryant backed off a little and raised the front of his wife’s blouse.
There were three long jagged scrapes on her abdomen just above her navel and drips of blood were oozing from them.
Mira got a closer look. She could tell they were fresh cuts. “This just happened to you?”
Lucille nodded. “Yes.”
Bryant was obviously worried. “I was standing right here when it happened to her, dammit! I couldn’t do anything to stop it. It isn’t like whatever did this was brave enough to show its face!” He snarled.
“I need to see the others,” Mira said.
“You mean the bruises?” Lucille asked.
“Yes. Please show me.”
Bryant and Lucille disrobed all the way down to their underwear. All over their bodies, except for the face, arms below the elbows and legs below the knees were cuts, scrapes and purplish-blue bruises. The chest area — for both of them — appeared to be the worst part. They looked like they’d been repeatedly and mercilessly pummeled.
“What the...”
Mira slid her fingers across the marks. Some of the cuts had been so deep, they were left as raised masses of hardened flesh where the body had conducted its own inner stitching.
“How do you cope with this?” she asked them, shaking her head sadly.
“They won’t let us be!” Lucille cried, “We can’t sleep; we barely eat. We’re both just shells of ourselves. This house - whatever’s here - it hates us and is ruining our lives!”
“Please sit down. I have to tell you something.” Mira went and took a seat on the couch.
The couple still held hands as they sat together.
Mira wasn’t sure how to begin. She certainly didn’t go there expecting to find what she did.
“What I’m about to tell you is extremely important. I hate to say this, but you definitely have a lot of energy in this house, but it’s not the kind of energy I typically come across.”
“What do you mean?” Bryant leaned forward.
“There are entities in here, Mister and Mrs. Sylvester, but I sense that most of them are not human in nature. They are negative and very destructive, as is evident by the way you’ve been attacked.”
They were looking on with interest.
“There’s more.” Mira gulped. She could see the anguish in Lucille’s eyes and hated to break the news to her.
“There’s a portal here in this house that leads to the other side.”
“A portal?” Bryant’s eyes widened.
The ensuing moments of silence in the room were deafening.
“Although they’ve been violent toward you, their ultimate goal is for you to turn on each other.”
“What?” Lucille was aghast. “Why? What did we ever do to deserve this?”
“I’m sure you didn’t do anything to deserve it,” Mira replied. “If it wasn’t you two, it would be someone else.”
Bryant gently squeezed his wife’s hand. He wanted more than anything to protect her. “So what do we do to put an end to all this activity going on around here and to get rid of that so-called portal?” he asked.
“My best advice to you both is to move – to pack up everything you own and go someplace else.”
Grimacing, Lucille looked at her husband. “She said we should move, Bryant. How can we move? Where will we go? We don’t have any money or family we can stay with.”
“Can’t we call in a priest or other minister to come in and cleanse the house?” Bryant proposed. “I thought about it before, but felt we needed to go this route and get some answers first.”
“There’s no guarantee what you’re proposing will work. The energy in here is incredibly strong and even if a cleansing were performed, it may still not be safe for you to return given what you were already exposed to. I don’t advise you to spend another day here.”
“I don’t get what you’re saying, Doctor Cullen. A cleansing should be able to take care of the problem. Isn’t good stronger than evil?” Bryant argued.
“I agree it is, but maybe I should better explain. What’s happening in this house is no typical haunting. The entities streaming in from the other side are vicious in nature and they can be tough to remove the first try, the second and even subsequent attempts. For the amount of negative, vile energy I feel, whoever and whatever remains attached to this place while the cleansing is attempted can become the victim of full demonic possession. What’s more is that just because the portal is closed doesn’t mean it will remain that way. These things are cunning and manipulative and they’ve already started their damaging work on you two. Any more exposure to this house even after a cleansing is a huge risk I wouldn’t advise you to take.” She glanced at both of them. “There must be somewhere you can go. If you don’t know anyone here who can take you in, there’s a shelter downtown where you can stay ‘til you get on your feet again. It’s a decent place and believe me, no one will be judging you.”
The Cornelius Saga Series Box Set 2 Page 8