Unbeknownst to Melody, Dr. Price, in addition to being a trained psychologist, had a keen interest and had done a fair amount of research into paranormal issues both as an undergraduate student as well in graduate school. As they walked through the house, he began to sense another presence clinging to the place, but he kept his observations to himself. It was just a slight feeling, and he did not want to add that to the equation for her. However, as they walked and he could not shake the feeling, Melody began to chat about the background of the house and the Crisp family and Charlie. Price felt a chill on his skin as she told the tale and decided to shift his approach as they sat at the kitchen table to begin.
“That’s some story, Melody…” Price said as they sat, “the Crisp family and all…”
“Yeah…” she replied. “It really shook up all the locals back then.”
“You ever see or hear anything odd here?”
Melody thought of all the creaking and groaning of floorboards and the footsteps, but did not think it wise at the moment to reveal this. She was feeling on edge enough talking to a psychologist without having that out in the open as well.
“Not really. Just the normal settling of an old house.”
After prodding her to get the details of what she had seen and heard with Jasper lately, he subtly returned to the backstory of the house again.
“Had you ever considered that there might be something…I don’t know…” Price said, feeling her out, “lingering here from that tragedy?”
Melody went pale.
“You mean like something to make Jasper act weird?”
Price shrugged and then decided to let her in on what he had been picking up on since he arrived.
“You really believe in that stuff, Dr. Price? I mean…things being haunted or maybe possessed and such?”
“Lots of things in this world that are hard to explain with logic and reason sometimes, Melody. What do you think?”
She thought for a few seconds before answering, but eventually, it all seemed to fit. Jasper’s sudden change in personality…his trying to stab her…the voice coming from him that was not his…She was reluctant to discuss this with Price, but based on his open mind about such things and that she felt very comfortable around him, Melody launched into her sudden revelation.
“I was not sure about this until just now, but since you seem to be open to the idea…and since I never could and would never say this to my folks…I have a feeling that Jasper might be possessed by the unsettled spirit of that poor little Charlie Crisp.”
Price nodded and paused, waiting to see if there was more. Melody laid out how this possibility, at least to her, seemed to line up with Jasper’s recent bizarre behavior. He just nodded and said nothing more.
“You think I’m crazy too, huh? Just like Mom and Dad?”
“Far from it, Melody. The rapid transformation of your brother’s behavior and what you have seen that he has hidden from your parents? I think this may be it. The longer I sit here, the stronger the feeling I am getting of a malevolent presence in the house. Jasper seemed fine when I met him, but it may be that the presence—let us assume at this point that it is the spirit of Charlie Crisp—comes and goes with Jasper at will. To suit his needs and whatever goal he may be playing at.”
“You think this spirit really means him harm?”
“From what you have told me, it sure seems that way. This boy was very young when he killed himself, and from all accounts, no one knows why, right?”
Melody nodded.
“Hauntings and especially possessions come about from spirits that left their mortal bodies in violence or in an unexpected time frame. To put it simply, they were taken from their earthly bodies well before their time and sometimes fueled by anger or resentment or just grief, they cannot move on and remained attached to what was familiar in their life before death.”
“Wow…you think Charlie may still be here then?”
“That’s my feeling.”
“You have any experience in…what…getting them to move on or something?”
Price sighed reluctantly. He in fact did, but his last effort at this kind of thing had gone badly. He had promised himself not to step back into another attempt again. But he could see that Melody was really panicked over the situation, and from what she had said he was afraid that Charlie Crisp might be getting ready to up the ante.
“I can try. No promises, but I can try, OK?”
Melody smiled finally relieved that there might actually be an explanation for what was going on. That she was not going insane after all. It was a scary explanation, but at this point, she would take what she could get…
Secret Talents
Bonner Springs, Kansas
October 11, 2018
Knowing that Matt and Darby were soon to return with Jasper, Price gave Melody a quick overview of what he wanted to try so she would be prepared when he came back to try and get Charlie Crisp’s ghost to find some peace. Or if he was hostile toward the effort, what he might have to do to forcibly banish him from the house.
“Not to worry, Melody…” Price said as he finished up, “for now this is just between you and me. Call it doctor/client privilege, I guess. Until we see what happens, your parents need only know we had a normal, regular therapy session, OK?”
Melody nodded and smiled weakly. She truly appreciated his help and his confidence in the matter, but until there was a successful outcome, Melody was scared. She walked him to the door as her parents were coming back up the walk with Jasper in tow. He still looked like the old Jasper, Melody thought, so perhaps Dr. Price was really onto what was going on.
“Nice to meet you, Melody,” Price said as he shook her hand and watched her bounce up the stairs.
Once she was out of earshot, and Jasper had run out back to play, Matt and Darby joined Price in the kitchen where he indicated they should talk about his session with Melody.
“Should we be worried, Doc?” Darby asked.
Price smiled thinly.
“Not at all, Darby. She’s a perfectly normal and healthy girl. We had a very good session.”
“Then what is going on with her?” Matt asked.
“Probably a combination of things like you suspected. The move, her lack of establishing a network of friends and such…”
“That enough to make her imagine all this stuff about Jasper?”
Price grimaced inwardly. He was already pushing the envelope of deceit with them and was not keen on how it was making him feel, professionally. But to lay out the truth and what he and Melody had in mind was going to be too much too soon, he feared. Just one more white lie…
“Could be. I’ve seen it before. Jasper seems to be fitting in well here already, right?”
Both Matt and Darby nodded.
“It might be Melody is just jealous. Her adjustment seems to be a struggle for her at the moment, but I think in time, all will settle out. If it is OK with you both, I’d like to see her again in a few days to follow up. It is just to see if I made any progress with her today. She seemed much better after we were done.”
Both Matt and Darby had noticed the bounce in Melody’s step as she went upstairs. Something they had not seen in her for a long time. They both agreed readily as they walked Price out to his car, feeling greatly relieved at what his intervention had apparently accomplished.
……….
Over the next couple of days, Melody did not see any signs of a repeat performance of what Jasper had transformed into, but until Dr. Price came back to work his magic, she was constantly on edge. Matt and Darby felt the heavy cloud that had been lying over the family lift as well, and it was with Melody’s offer to look after Jasper one evening all they needed to go out for a long overdue date night. Melody told them to have a good time, not to worry, and that she could handle Jasper and the house for a few hours. Once they drove off, Melody knew this was the opportunity she had been waiting for, and she texted Price that a window of opportunity had ar
isen. He had been waiting for her to give him the high sign, and assured her he would be there in just a few minutes with all the materials to deal with the lingering Charlie Crisp emanation.
As Melody paced the house, growing more anxious by the minute as she awaited Dr. Price’s arrival, she looked up at the ceiling when the regular movement that had been coming from Jasper’s room went suddenly silent. Based on when he had seemed to undergo the mysterious transformation before, she was immediately afraid that another possession might be underway. When she could no longer stand it, she moved upstairs as quietly as she could and went to Jasper’s room, easing the door open just a crack. As she peered in, Melody fell instantly fearful as Jasper once again sat in a cross-legged position, but this time in the center of the room.
As the door moved open, he looked up at her. His eyes were again those empty, black spheres and his normally healthy skin had taken on a sickly, pale pallor that she, unfortunately, recognized all too well. Jasper looked her way and gave her that evil, malicious leer that he had hidden well from Matt and Darby…the one he saved just for Melody. As his lips curled open in a smile that was anything but friendly and warm, Melody shut the door and fled back downstairs just as she heard the bell ring. Melody had never been a praying kind of girl, but at this moment, she put all her energy into one that Dr. Price had arrived.
She threw open the door and rushed him inside roughly as her heart pounded.
“Thank God you’re here!” she exclaimed as Price took off his coat and set aside a bulky valise and a well-worn book. “It’s back, and Jasper’s under its spell again.”
Price had been hoping to take a crack at removing the ghost on its own before it took over Jasper’s body again. He knew from experience that that was a much more amenable situation to face, but if what Melody was telling him was true, then it was a moot point. He had gone after entities that had possessed mortal beings before, but it was a much harder fix. Wasting no more time, Price grabbed his gear and followed Melody to Jasper’s room, bracing himself for what he feared was going to be an ordeal. She pushed open the door, and Jasper was still in the same position that he had been in when she had left. Price hesitated briefly as he looked at the boy, the look on Jasper’s face was as menacing and threatening as Melody had described. Jasper looked from his sister to Price, carefully evaluating the situation before he spoke.
“Had to bring along some help, eh sis?” the thing rasped as its countenance grew even more insidious. “I told you to let us be…”
Melody shivered at his words, but Price held firm and opened the book to a place that had been marked and removed various implements from the valise, setting them to the side. He turned away from the thing and whispered to Melody:
“This may get ugly, Melody. But no matter what you have to trust me, OK?”
Melody nodded, hoping she was not getting in over her head with this situation. Price released a deep breath and began to recite from the book opened in front of him. The words made the Jasper-thing recoil with disgust initially, but it soon recovered and howled at Price in a language that Melody had never heard in her life. The anguished howl soon morphed into maniacal and contemptuous laughter, ridiculing the psychologist’s efforts. Price had seen such reactions before, and though it might seem as if his target was unaffected, Price knew this response meant he had hit a nerve.
He moved closer to the possessed boy and without making contact, the thing threw a bolus of energy at Price tossing him across the room and into the bed and nightstand. The table splintered into fragments and the lamp on the small table shattered under Price’s weight as the Jasper-thing relished in its power, taunting the man as he regained his feet.
“Nice try, you quack!” the thing roared. “You have no idea who you are dealing with! That was just a small taste. Leave us be now while you can still walk out of here in one piece…”
Melody shook with fear as she watched the episode unfold, but Price just dusted himself off, knowing he had the thing on the ropes.
“Dr. Price?” she asked with a quaver in her voice.
“Just follow my lead and do as I tell you, Melody,” he replied in a whisper. “It may seem harsh, but you have to trust me. In the bottom of my valise are some thick cords. I am going to subdue Jasper, and when I get him pinned down, I want you to wrap as many coils of it around his body as you can. OK?”
She nodded and deftly slipped her hand into his bag, doing as he requested. Then when the thing thought Price had taken its advice and was packing it in, the man charged it without warning and held its arms to its side as Melody jumped in and began to secure the flailing and screaming form with the rope. Once it was mostly disarmed, so to speak, Price tied off the ends of the ropes and retrieved his book again. He had no idea why this technique was successful in possession cases, but it had worked in all but the one instance in which he had tried it. The Jasper-thing railed and squirmed and wriggled against the restraints as it spewed all manner of vile language at the doctor, but all its efforts were of no help in getting free. Price then read from the book in a commanding and confident voice, repeating the ritual for ending a possession that he had gotten from a priest years ago. As the rounds of ritual went by, Price could see Jasper’s body writhe violently as the entity struggled to maintain its hold on him, but finally after about an hour of the treatment, a bright red light rose from the top of Jasper’s head and coalesced into an elongated orb, pulsing and vibrating over their heads.
Price, in his heart, knew who the presence was, but as was the case with these things, his inner belief was never enough. He liked to hear from the offending presence itself. It was not an audible confession, but one that from years of experience in the field, was detectable to him in a sort of psychic revelation. Melody sat back, as Price closed his eyes and seemed to be taking in this unheard conversation. Then just as mysteriously as the red orb had appeared, it dispersed into a thin, gauzy-looking cloud and simply disappeared. As if it had never been there in the first place. Once the orb vanished, Jasper collapsed, and Price gently removed the coils of rope and put the boy to bed.
The Aftermath
Bonner Springs, Kansas
October 14, 2018, 10 PM
Jasper seemed to be barely breathing to Melody, but Price assured her he was fine.
“He just needs rest now. The possession ordeal is a very draining one, both physically and emotionally. He may sleep for a day or more, but he will be fine. I guarantee it.”
“Will he remember this?”
“Probably not. He was just the vessel for the possession. I have never seen an instance where the possessed person had any recollection of the possession itself. The best way I can describe it to you is to compare it to when a virus infects a cell. The cell just gets taken under the control of the virus. It is no longer that cell anymore, but is being run by the virus. Understand?”
Melody nodded. Biology had never been her strong suit in school, but she got the gist of Dr. Price’s analogy.
“So was this Charlie Crisp as you thought? It seemed like you had some sort of connection with the spirit before it departed…”
Price nodded.
“It was. Poor little Charlie was seriously…how shall I put this…over-parented as a child. His parents meant well, but were dangerously overprotective of him. All he wanted was another boy his age to play with, but as his own emotional and psychological development had been stunted, he had no idea how to go about it other than by force.”
“Did he have anything to do with Bertie?”
Price felt a twinge of uncertainty on this one, knowing how much the parrot had meant to Melody, but again he always tried to be honest in such matters.
“I am afraid so, Melody. His parents never allowed him to have a pet of any kind, and taking Bertie was the only way he knew of to make that happen.”
Melody felt a lump in her throat, but she just nodded as Price hugged her tight.
“So…he’s gone for good. Charlie?” she asked a
s she looked into Price’s eyes.
“I think so. In the process, despite his lack of understanding of all of this, I think Charlie came to some sort of realization that what he had done…particularly how he had gone about it…with Jasper…was wrong. My feeling is he has moved on to his next plane of existence, and everything here should go back to normal. If you believe in all this stuff that is.”
“To be honest, Dr, Price, before this thing with Jasper, I would have thought it all just a bunch of hooey. But now? I guess you could say I am seeing things related to the paranormal through different eyes. I have been struggling with what to do with my life…school…and all…and maybe this is showing me a path to follow.”
Price smiled, recalling how he himself had come to focus on such topics. He helped her clean up the mess in Jasper’s bedroom and then waved goodbye as Melody watched him drive away into the night. She had no idea what she would tell her parents about the broken table and lamp and even how to explain the possibly long-sleeping Jasper, but she was sure something would come to her.
Lawrence, Kansas
October 15, 2018, 2 AM
Dr. Price took his time driving back to Lawrence, as he thought through all the events of the night with Melody and Jasper. It had been a long time since he had dealt with a possession case, and quite frankly he had been terrified during the whole ordeal. It was not like he would never say no, ever again, but he sincerely hoped the situation for such an intervention never again came his way. He pulled into his driveway as the soft and warm lights of his house were like a welcoming beacon. He shut off the car and sat for a few seconds before going in, offering thanks that an entity such as Charlie Crisp had never touched his family personally.
Both his wife and son had already turned in for the night when he arrived, and the peace and tranquility of the place made him smile broadly as he shut off the lights. He stopped in briefly to see his son Peter and kissed him lightly on the head before closing his door and sliding into the bed next to his wife, Marilyn.
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