by Jason Hawes
“No. That was the strange part,” Grant went on. “It was almost as if she thought of this spirit as a friend.”
“He opened doors for her, turned the heat and the lights on right before she got home. Once, Karen left the iron on by mistake. When she hurried back to it, the iron had been unplugged. Karen believed the spirit unplugged it.”
“ You said he,” Lyssa said. “I thought Karen never saw this spirit. How could she know the spirit was a man?”
“She said she just felt it,” Jason explained. “She felt that she was important to the spirit. That’s how we figured out what she didn’t want to talk about. She actually felt weird about calling us. Like she was being unfair to the spirit—to him.”
“So why did she call TAPS?” Mark asked.
“Things changed at the house. The spirit changed. Everything changed when her husband came home,” Grant said.
“The spirit didn’t treat Tom the way he treated Karen. He didn’t open doors for Tom. He slammed them in Tom’s face. He didn’t turn on the lights and make Tom feel at home. He locked him out of the house sometimes. Tom no longer felt at all comfortable in his own home.
“Then it got really scary. The spirit began to appear in the bedroom every night. It stood near Tom’s side of the bed. It leaned over him. Like some big, dark cloud. Tom didn’t want to give in to his fear, but he couldn’t sleep. He was really scared. He started sleeping in the guest room.”
“I can’t say I blame him!” Mike said. “That’s pretty harsh. I mean, who wants to be afraid to sleep in their own bed at night?”
“Exactly,” Grant said. “But it got even worse. The Maguires have a collection of African art. One day Tom was hanging an African mask on the wall. Tom was standing on a ladder. Suddenly he felt a hand grab his leg and pull. Hard. He lost his balance and fell.
“Karen found him on the floor, holding his ankle. The ankle was broken. That’s when Karen decided enough was enough. In that moment when she saw Tom in pain, she realized she had a real problem.
“When she was alone, it was nice to feel the spirit wanted to protect her. But she didn’t need to be protected from her own husband. That’s when she realized she was dealing with a jealous ghost. And even worse was that Tom was in real danger. That’s when she called us.
“I can still remember what it felt like to walk through the Maguires’ front door that very first time,” Grant continued. “The hairs on the back of my neck stood straight up. The energy of the whole house felt super-charged. I kept expecting to get a shock every time I touched something.”
“We decided to start our investigation in the bedroom,” Jason said. “Since that was where the spirit was actually showing itself. I remember Grant went downstairs to get some more audio recorders. I continued up to the bedroom. I was almost through the bedroom door when it slammed shut. Right in my face!”
Jason touched his nose. As if he could still feel the pain. “I got a bloody nose! I went down the hall to the bathroom to get cleaned up.”
“Meanwhile, I came back upstairs and got to work setting up the camera,” Grant went on. “I was up on a ladder when I felt a strong pull on my leg. I remembered what happened to Tom. So I held on tight to the sides of the ladder with all my strength.”
“I was just coming out of the bathroom,” Jason said. “I heard Grant yell. I ran in and found him clinging to the top of the ladder. The ladder was swaying from side to side. I grabbed it and held on tight until it was steady and Grant could climb down.”
“And then, we went outside to talk. It seemed pretty clear to both of us what was going on—we were in a house with a jealous ghost. And now he thought we were the bad guys. He was coming after us,” explained Grant.
“Wow!” said Jen. Her eyes were wide. “But you went back in, right?”
“Of course we did,” Jason replied. “But we agreed to be extra careful. We agreed to stay in visual contact at all times.”
“We went dark right after midnight,” Grant went on. “The Maguires were both in the downstairs guest room. Jay and I climbed the stairs.
“All that artwork looked a lot different at night. The masks looked like they were watching us. Walking up those stairs and down the hall to the bedroom felt as if it took hours.”
“But finally we were standing outside the door to the Maguires’ bedroom,” Jason said. “The door was wide open. I put my arm against it to make sure it couldn’t slam. Then Grant and I squeezed through the doorway together.
“And there he stood.”
“There was a figure by Tom’s side of the bed,” Grant said. “Jay and I stopped cold. We’ve seen a lot of things, but this was like nothing we’d ever seen before.
“The figure rippled and shimmered. You know when you boil a pot of water? There’s this point where the heat starts to rise. That’s what the entity in the bedroom looked like. Only dark. We couldn’t see through it.
“ ‘Hello,’ I finally said. ‘I’m Grant and this is Jason. Karen asked us to come. We just want to know who you are. Can you find a way to tell us? Can you tell us what you want?’ ”
“What did it do?” Mike asked. “Did you get an answer?”
“No,” Jason said. “Nothing we could see or hear. We tried again.
“I said to it, ‘Karen wants you to know that we aren’t here to hurt her. We want to help you.’ But there was only silence. So we decided to go to the next step.”
“Next step? What do you mean, next step?” Mark asked.
Grant took a deep breath. “We touched it.”
“You touched it?” Lyssa exclaimed.
“We put our hands right through it.” Jason nodded.
“It was definitely a strange feeling,” Grant remembered. “Very cold. But also like static electricity. We felt as if we were touching the source of all the extra energy in the house.”
“Touching it definitely got some sort of reaction,” Jason said. “The figure flew up above our heads and darted out the door. Grant and I just stood there. Looking at each other and thinking, Was that awesome or what?!”
“And then,” Grant said with a smile. “We both sat down.”
“But what happened after that?” Jen asked. “You can’t leave us hanging. It’s just not right!”
“I don’t know. It’s getting kind of late,” Grant said. He looked at his watch.
“Oh, Grant, come on!” the rest of the team cried.
Grant grinned. “All right. We spent a couple of months investigating the Maguire house. We never saw the figure again.”
“But you must have come to some conclusions,” Mark said. “What about the evidence? What did it show?”
“Not a lot, at first,” Jason answered. “The cameras never did pick anything up. We had the audio running both day and night. Listening to it all took hours and hours.”
“But finally,” Grant said, “right about the time we thought our ears would fall off, the audio gave us the clues that we were hoping for. We were able to make out three names that were repeated over and over.
“Klaus. Emily. John. We kept listening to those names over and over, trying to figure out what they meant. Who they were.”
“Right. Who were they?” Mark asked. “And how were they connected to the Maguires’ home?”
“Spoken like a true researcher,” Grant said. “We did research on the house. We found out that John and Emily were a young couple. They moved into the house right after they got married. They were in love and happy to have their own home.”
“But Emily had an old boyfriend, named Klaus,” Jason continued. “He was really jealous. John and Emily went on their honeymoon. Then they returned to their new home. But Klaus was waiting for them. They all died.”
“So Klaus is the spirit in the Maguire house?” Lyssa asked.
“We thought that at first,” Jason said. “But then we changed our minds.”
“How come?” Jen asked.
“Klaus claimed he loved Emily. But he killed her,” Jason said. “He di
dn’t protect her at all.”
“But the spirit in the Maguire house did protect Karen,” Grant continued. “He wanted to take care of her.”
“It’s almost like he wanted to make up for not protecting Emily from Klaus,” Lyssa suggested. “So you think the spirit was John, not Klaus?”
“Yes.” Jason nodded. “But the problem was that the spirit assumed that any guy who came into the house was there to cause harm. He couldn’t see that Tom Maguire was actually the good guy.”
“What did you finally do?” Mike asked.
“We didn’t do anything,” Grant replied. “It was Tom Maguire who figured out the solution. He had a man-to-man talk with John. He reminded him that Karen was his wife, not John’s.”
“But Tom didn’t stop there,” Jason said. “He asked for John’s help. Tom asked John to keep an eye on Karen when he was gone. He said it would help him to know that Karen was safe. It would give him peace of mind when he was far away from home.”
“And in exchange,” Grant continued, “Tom asked John to give him and Karen some privacy when Tom was home.”
“Did it work?” Jen asked.
“Well, we heard from the Maguires that the attacks on Tom stopped,” Grant said.
“Wow,” Mike said. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anything like that before. The Maguires actually came up with a way to keep a spirit in their lives?”
“That’s exactly what they did,” Jason confirmed. “As far as we know, it’s still working. We still get Christmas cards from them, don’t we?”
“Do they sign them Merry Christmas, from Tom, Karen, and John?” Mark joked.
“Maybe they should,” Grant said. “Maybe they should.”
FRESH FROM THE GRAVE
Eli leaned against a gravestone. Its sharp edge dug into his back. Moss grew all over the sides. It felt cold and slimy against his skin. A chill raced down Eli’s neck. He shook it off.
“You ready?” his friend Patrick asked.
“Definitely,” Eli said. But he wasn’t so sure.
“No wussing out now,” warned Jake, his other friend.
“I’m not going to wuss out,” Eli insisted. “I’m the one who thought of this, remember?”
Okay, maybe walking through the old graveyard wasn’t the smartest idea. But it was a hot summer night, and there wasn’t anything else to do. So why not go ghost hunting?
Jake flicked on his flashlight to make sure it worked. The beam shone down on earthworms crawling over the dirt. They squirmed back underground when the light hit them. Jake turned the flashlight off.
Jake gave Eli his best evil grin. “Okay,” he said. “Let’s see how long you can stay in the graveyard with ghosts chasing you.”
“No big deal,” Eli said. Then he looked down. He saw a worm crawling over his shoe, leaving a trail of slime. He kicked it off.
“Fine,” he said, and took a step forward.
The sun had set hours ago. The cemetery was all darkness and shadow. Eli had only been to the cemetery once before—but that had been during the day. At night it was totally different.
A pale crescent moon cast an eerie blue light over the graves. The tombstones were so old, they looked like crooked teeth pointing up out of the ground. They were definitely spooky, Eli decided. Really spooky because Eli knew that underneath them were dead people.
Row after row of dead people, shut up in coffins.
Rotting in the ground.
Eli didn’t believe in ghosts. But what if—somehow—one of those dead people reached up and…
Snap!
Eli’s foot crashed through something hard. His knees wobbled. His stomach dropped to his ankles.
“Shhhh,” Patrick hissed. “You’re not supposed to be stepping on the bones!”
Eli froze. His breath felt trapped in his chest. Did he really step on a dead person’s bones?
He forced himself to look down. And saw a branch snapped in two. He began to breathe a little easier.
“Seriously, Eli,” Patrick said. “You should show some respect.”
Jake picked up the branch. “This used to be somebody,” he said, dangling it in front of Eli’s face.
“Ha, ha. Funny joke,” said Eli.
They started walking again. It was growing even darker. Eli struggled to see what was in front of him.
“Jake, turn on the flashlight already. It’s too dark.”
“What? And let the ghosts know we’re coming for them? I don’t think so, Eli.”
The boys moved deeper into the cemetery. Eli thought they might be getting a little lost. He didn’t know his way around the graveyard that well. A terrible smell hit Eli’s nose. A putrid odor forced its way up his nostrils. Eli coughed into his sleeve.
“Do you guys smell that? It’s horrible. Something’s rotting.”
“Yeah, I smell it too,” Jake said. “Like rotten eggs.”
Patrick made a face. “No, it’s worse. It’s like when a mouse dies in your basement. And it stinks up the whole place. And it takes forever to find it and—”
“Okay, okay, we get it,” Eli said. “Come on, keep moving. I don’t want to be here all night.”
They moved toward the oldest part of the cemetery. The ground felt like a damp sponge under his feet. He felt wet earth sucking at the soles of his running shoes. Every step seemed to pull him down into the wet soft ground. Pulling him into the cold darkness of the graves.
Eli’s right hand scraped against a headstone. His knuckles burned. He stopped to rub his hand. It was bleeding. But that was good. That meant he was still alive. He wasn’t sinking. He was just letting his imagination run away with him.
“What’s going on?” Patrick asked. “Did you get a boo-boo?”
“Shut up,” Eli said. He kept walking but more carefully, trying not to step on any of the graves… or touch any of the tombstones.
I’ll be fine, he told himself. As long as I don’t touch any of the graves. No problem.
Eli felt a flash of warm wind hit his face.
He looked over to the side and stopped. He was too startled to move any farther. His head felt light. He started to breathe faster.
In the distance, between two white headstones, Eli saw the figure of a tall man. The man moved back and forth. Like something trapped inside a cage. He paced and prowled between the two graves.
“Over there. Look!” Eli called in a low voice to his friends. Jake and Patrick swiveled around.
“Where?” Patrick asked.
“Shh, not so loud. About fifty feet to the left. That… shape… over there.”
Jake and Patrick squinted where Eli pointed.
“There’s nothing over there,” Patrick said.
“Yeah, I don’t see anything either,” said Jake.
Eli couldn’t believe his friends didn’t see it! The figure was moving even faster now.
“No… look. There it is again.”
“It’s probably nothing. Just shadows.”
The figure of the man stopped in its tracks. He looked straight at Eli. As if he was waiting for him.
“Are you blind?” Eli’s voice was hoarse. A cold sweat trickled down his chest. “It’s right there!”
“Then show us,” Jake said. “I dare you.”
Eli had never backed down from a dare in his life. He wasn’t going to wimp out now.
He edged toward the figure of the tall man. But he bent low. He didn’t want the man to see him. He didn’t want the man to look at him ever again. He moved quietly, keeping clear of the gravestones. His heart raced so fast, he could feel it pumping in his ears.
Eli gasped. Suddenly the ground right in front of his feet lit up with a bright light.
Jake stood behind him. He had turned on the flashlight.
“I still don’t see him,” Jake said.
Eli straightened up. “Right in front of us,” he said. But as Eli pointed, the shadowy figure vanished. Just as if it was never there.
They all walked o
ver to the spot between the two gravestones. “This is where I saw him,” Eli said.
“You’re just seeing things,” Jake said.
“Here, let me give you some glasses,” Patrick said, making circles with his fingers and chasing after Eli.
“Hey, quit it!”
“Seriously. You think it was a guard or something?” Patrick asked.
“Maybe,” Eli said. “I don’t know. It was probably nothing.”
Eli was lying. He knew someone had been there. Someone who stared right at him. But he didn’t know how to make his friends believe that.
Eli glanced around. He heard a low sound like a raspy voice. It lasted only an instant and then it was gone.
“You guys say something?”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Nope.”
A few seconds later the sound came back. It grew louder. And louder.
“Get out!” it said.
Eli couldn’t help it. He jumped back away from the raspy voice. One foot came down on soggy earth. His other foot went straight down into a hole.
He bit back a scream and grabbed onto the closest thing he could. A gravestone. A gravestone that felt ice cold even though it was the middle of summer.
Eli pulled his foot out of the hole. He let go of the tombstone.
“What’s your problem?” Jake asked.
“Didn’t you guys just hear that?” Eli said.
“Hear what?” Patrick asked.
“That voice. It was clear as day. I’m not kidding around.”
“I didn’t hear anything,” Patrick said. “Come on, Eli. Quit trying to freak us out. The bugs are eating me alive. I’m sweaty. I’m hungry. Let’s call it a night, okay?”
Eli was tired of feeling as if he was the one with a problem. He gave Patrick a friendly shove. “I think you’re the one who’s scared,” he said.
“Yeah, right,” Patrick said. “You’re the one imagining ghosts. I’m not scared, because there’s nothing out here to be scared of.” He pushed Eli back harder.
Eli tripped over his feet and stumbled. He snagged his foot on something hard and fell to the ground. A dull thud sounded next to him.
Eli sat up. He felt sick to his stomach. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead. He saw a narrow trench in the ground beside him. He had toppled over a gravestone and it lay cracked in pieces that had scattered on the wet earth.