“Yeah. After Em took the pictures, I walked down the hall and took a look around in there. It was cold as fuck and staticky. Really charged up. All the hairs on my arms stood on end. But that’s it.”
“Alright. Let me go to the bedroom with a recorder and a camera. I’ll see if I can catch anything. I’m not going to provoke. Not yet. You guys are sleeping in this building, and I don’t want to make the situation worse for you two. Have you heard back from Phil?”
“No. I haven’t. And I’m getting worried.”
“We’ll deal with that later. You two stay here. I want to see if this thing will show itself to me.”
Liam nodded as Trey stood and made his way down the hallway, voice recorder, and camera in hand.
Ten
Luke wished he had grabbed a walkie talkie before leaving his house, but in a rush to get to Liam, the thought slipped his mind. Making a mental note not to let that happen again, he continued down the steps to the basement.
He didn’t detect any abnormal readings in Liam’s flat, but he couldn’t ignore the sick, anxious feeling in the pit of his stomach. It was the same sense he got every time they investigated an active location. A combination of excitement and dread flooded his gut, causing his adrenaline to spike and his stomach to roll. He knew there was something there, and the fact that he had never felt anything like it before when he came to the house to visit Liam, pissed him off. What kind of dormant fucked up shit was hiding this whole time and no one knew about it? And why was it messing with his friend’s girl? That was the most confusing part about the situation. What was the connection between Liam and Emily?
At the bottom of the stairs, Luke rounded the corner and began asking questions in hopes that the recorder would pick up a disembodied voice. Checking the EMF detector and seeing that the baseline hadn’t changed, he turned left toward the furnace. Liam said he’d seen the shadow figure there the night that the pilot light in Emily’s furnace went out, so it seemed like a good place to do a recording session. Luke noticed a door with a padlock on it as he stepped on to the concrete slab of the lower level foundation. He had never been in the basement before and wasn’t aware of an apartment down there. Seeing the padlock on the door, he wondered why old Phil would keep it locked. Storage maybe?
As he passed the door, the EMF detector spiked. Double checking that the recording device was on, he spoke, making sure to wait a few seconds between each question.
“What’s your name?”
Silence.
“Where are you from?”
Silence.
“Why are you here?”
Silence.
“What do you want?”
The EMF detector spiked again, lighting up all of the indicators and sounding a buzzer. The hairs on Luke’s neck stood straight up. “I know you’re here. I can feel you. Speak into this thing I’m holding and tell me your name,” Luke stated as he held the voice recorder in the air.
The lights on the EMF meter continued to light up erratically while he stood in front of the locked door. There was something behind it that disrupted the electromagnetic field. Wanting to see if there were any other unusual readings in the basement, Luke walked away and swept the rest of the area, stopping at the furnace to ask another round of questions. Noting that the EMF detector wasn’t picking up any readings, he walked back toward the apartment door and picked up high fluctuations again. Pulling his cell phone from his pocket, Luke sent Liam a quick text.
Luke: In the basement. Getting readings by apartment door. Will check recorder when done.
Two seconds later, Liam’s response came through.
Liam: Copy that. Reconvene up here in 10.
Luke: Copy that
***
Trey was in Emily’s bedroom about to wrap up an EVP session. He’d closed the door to prevent any contaminating noise from entering the room since Emily and Liam were still in the living room.
Trey sat on the end of her lofty bed with an infrared camera, and he placed a voice recorder on the dresser across from the bed. He had done a quick review after each round of questions, but hadn’t captured any disembodied voices.
The room was an icebox. Despite the warm, charming decor and plush bedding and pillows, an uncomfortable presence was near. Trey could hear the hum of the furnace through the vents. He walked over to the far wall and placed his hand in front of the heat register. Warm air blew against his skin. It was evident that whatever was present was having a significant effect on the environment.
The static in the air that Liam had mentioned was still palpable. Like the feeling from back in the days when someone had left one of those boxy, old fashioned TV’s on in a room. You knew the TV was on by the way all of your hairs would stand up, and your ears would ring, your body felt engulfed by an invisible energy. That was the feeling of Emily’s bedroom. Only there was no TV present.
Trey had already taken dozens of photos with a small digital camera, but nothing had shown up. He was eager to do a full investigation of the place. He wished he’d grabbed more equipment, but there wasn’t enough time. Liam had sent the photo of a shadow figure standing in the doorway, and he asked for help. Since Luke and Trey were roommates, they made quick work of gathering what they deemed most essential, but had missed packing the motion sensors and other investigation equipment that could be useful.
Trey kept the work van parked at his house since he had the room, but he never stored their expensive gear inside of it. What they had on them wasn’t ideal, but it would do for a spur of the moment investigation where activity had been witnessed recently.
Trey walked back out to the hallway and decided to snap pictures throughout the rest of the flat. Just as he was about to say something to Liam and Emily, Luke walked through the front door, eyes wide. Trey knew that look.
Before Trey or Liam could say anything, Luke said, “Guys, we need to talk.”
Liam stood from the sofa. “What did you find?”
“I caught some EVPs. I can make out a couple on the recorder, but there’s one that needs to be cleaned up. Should I go to the van to work on it?”
Trey watched as Liam turned to Emily. He knew his friend was debating whether he should let her listen to the EVPs now or wait. Before Liam could ask the question, Emily spoke up, “I would like to hear them. If it’s okay with you.”
Liam didn’t move his gaze from Emily. He stared at her with warm affection, her eyes meeting his with the same emotion. “Luke, go get whatever you need from the van and set up here. We’ll all listen to it together.”
Luke glanced over, and Trey gave a subtle nod before his friend turned to walk out to the van. Trey picked up his laptop bag and set himself up at the small dining table where he wrote up a report on the residence.
Eleven
Emily walked up to Liam after taking the food out of the oven and placing it in containers. The guys had stopped to review the voice recorders, double-checking that they hadn’t missed any voices being picked up, and Luke was working on cleaning up an EVP that he’d caught. Her appetite had disappeared, and Liam had said he was no longer hungry. She figured it would be nice to have leftovers at the ready, and maybe she and Liam could enjoy the food another night. After she placed the containers in the refrigerator, she made her way into the living room.
Emily listened to the three friends discuss the night’s events using paranormal jargon. She was feeling a little excluded. Not because she felt ignored, but because she wasn’t understanding a lot of the terminology being used. Sure, she had watched some ghost hunting shows on TV, but it was a whole other experience being in the presence of paranormal investigators and watching them work. Seeing Liam in his element, working and talking about types of EVPs so passionately, turned her on even more.
Emily had made up her mind during their brief kiss on the sofa that she wasn’t letting the spirit skew her feelings or desires any longer. She didn’t care if her thoughts spurred more activity around her. Perhaps that would hel
p Liam discover who the entity was, and they could get rid of it. Emily let herself relish in the sight of Liam, in her living room, working and looking like the finest specimen of a man she’d ever seen.
“Okay. I’ve cleaned this one EVP up as best I can,” Luke said from the dining table. The previous two EVPs were not hard to make out. They all listened to them right after Luke set up his computer. Both sounded deep, menacing, and like they came from the same voice. A creepy feeling of familiarity, yet Emily couldn’t connect the dots as to why. They spoke, “I’m here,” and “She’s mine.”
Emily slipped her arm around Liam’s waist, and he pulled her close, his arm resting over her shoulders. He held her securely to him. She shivered in his embrace. Not from cold and not from discomfort. She simply hadn’t yet grown used to the fiery jolt that coursed through her body whenever they touched. As electrifying as it was, she craved the feeling all the same and looked forward to the sensation. “What’s an EVP?” she asked.
Luke spoke up, still sitting at the makeshift workstation that was her dinette table. “We’re sorry, Emily. We didn’t mean to leave you out. An EVP is an Electronic Voice Phenomena. A voice that we can’t hear with our own ears in the moment but records itself on a device, and we can replay it back after it’s been captured.”
“I see.”
“Here it is. It sounds grainy, but it’s the best I can do. It’s said right after, ‘She’s mine,’ and it sounds like it’s the same voice.” Luke handed a set of noise-canceling headphones to Liam and plugged them into the laptop.
“We use the headphones to block out any background noise so we can listen more closely to the EVP,” Liam told her. Looking at Luke, he gave his friend a nod before saying, “Go ahead.”
Liam closed his eyes, dropped his head, and listened to the recording, cupping the earpieces with his hands, as if he were trying to press the sound closer to his eardrums. After a few moments, he removed the headphones and gave them to Trey so he could listen. After another few moments, Trey looked up. “Emily?” he asked, “Do you want to listen?”
“Yes,” she answered with certainty and confidence.
Emily took the headphones from Trey. Before she placed them on her ears, Liam told her, “It’s a whisper, and it’s playing on a loop. You’ll hear it play over and over. Let us know what you think it’s saying.”
“Okay.” She placed the headphones over her ears and was thrown into a state of odd deafness. With the lack of ambient noise and the rushing sound of her own blood through her ears, she felt vulnerable. Making eye contact with Luke, she gave him a small nod and said, “I’m ready.”
Emily watched as Luke pressed a button, and the sound of faint white noise filled her head. Then, the sound she was waiting to hear came through the headphones, sending an icy chill down her spine. Though it was a whisper, it resonated a deep, gruff, and threatening tone. It played repeatedly, with only a second between each loop. When she couldn’t take any more of the ominous voice, she pulled the headphones off.
“I think I hear ‘Abigail.’’’
“Yeah. That’s what we hear too,” Liam confirmed.
“Who is Abigail?”
Liam looked at her, shaking his head. “I don’t know. Trey, have you been able to find anything out?”
“No, nothing yet. It’s like this place was just built and nothing has ever happened here. I can’t even come up with any police reports, death records. Nothing.”
“Man, have you talked to Phil yet?” Luke asked. “I really want to get into that room in the basement. The EMF detector was going nuts outside the door. And that’s where I caught all of the EVPs. I wanna know what’s in there.”
“No. I was telling Trey, I can’t get a hold of him. I’m getting worried too. He always gets back to me. I wanna do another investigation as soon as we can.” Liam paused for a moment, rubbing his hand down his face, stopping at his chin, he stroked the light stubble. “We’ll get into the apartment and just replace the lock. I agree. We need to know what’s in there. I don’t think he’ll be upset. I’ll explain to him that it was imperative. He knows what we do for work. I think he’ll understand our reasons for going in.”
A flicker caught the corner of Emily’s eye. Liam must have noticed it too. His arm tightened around her just as she turned her head toward the floor lamp in the living room. All of the lights were now pulsing and buzzing from the fluctuating electrical currents passing through them.
A crash resounded and the apartment vibrated while a blast of wind rushed through. It traveled low to the floor before ascending where the friends stood at the table, picking up Emily’s hair, twirling it around. Liam, Trey, and Luke rushed into the living room. Emily followed behind them, where they found the front window swinging open. It had blown open so hard that the glass had completely shattered.
“What the fuck!” Liam shouted, stalking to the far end of the living room to inspect the window. “I installed these latches myself. There’s no way wind or anything natural could do this.”
Emily’s breath caught at the sight before her. The fact that the windowpane had shattered wasn’t what caused her concern. No, what caused the shiver to spread through her and fill her with dread was the pulverized glass that sprinkled her flat, like fine sand. It covered every inch of her floor and furniture in white powdery dust.
The realization set in. This haunting was dangerous. It was growing stronger, and it was hostile. And, it was capable of hurting her.
***
“Emily, don’t move! You’re not wearing shoes,” Liam warned, as he went to the front door where she had a pair of loafers and brought them to her. Emily slipped her feet in while he grabbed a chair from the dinette table. Emily’s body quaked. “Sit here, okay.” Liam pressed his forehead to hers before settling her in the seat and walked to where Trey and Luke stood in front of the window. All three men were baffled.
Luke spoke in a hushed tone, “What the fuck is going on here?”
“I don’t know. But we need to get to the bottom of it soon,” Liam said, not caring that agitation blanketed his tone.
“Tomorrow night then,” Luke continued. “We need to find out what is here and get rid of it. You and Emily can’t live like this.”
“What if she’d been standing near the window when it blew apart?” Liam whispered, his voice wobbled with emotion. He shoved his shaking hands in his pockets.
Trey placed his hand on Liam’s shoulder. “But she wasn’t.” Liam lifted his gaze, meeting Trey’s stare, and then Luke.
“Right,” he agreed. “Tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow,” Trey repeated. “We’ll get the rest of our equipment in the morning and spend the whole night investigating. I know you two are still getting to know each other, but you can’t leave her here alone. She’s really shaken up.”
“I know. And I’m not planning on it.”
“Good. We aren’t leaving you guys tonight.” Trey glanced at Luke, who gave him a nod. “Luke and I will stay here. We’ll board up the window and clean up some of this mess. We’ll leave some cameras rolling tonight, maybe something will pick up. Take care of Emily. She’s scared shitless. Get her calm. And we’ll all talk in the morning.”
Liam didn’t know what to say. He knew his friends would be there for him. He spent all of his adult life chasing ghosts, but the thought of living through a haunting again shook him. Worse, the reality of Emily being put in more danger because the haunting seemed possessive of her frightened him. Liam knew what malicious entities were capable of. He’d seen it with his own eyes while helping others over the years.
Liam didn’t talk much about his paranormal experiences as a child, but Trey and Luke were a part of the select few who knew about what his family had gone through. The guys weren’t only friends and teammates, they were as close as brothers. Someone Liam cared about was being haunted. Liam was family, that meant Emily was also like family. He knew they would get to the bottom of it.
Luke spoke again,
placing his hand on Liam’s shoulder. “Go on, Liam. Take care of Emily. We got your back.”
Nodding silently, Liam walked toward Emily. She sat in the chair with her hands under her thighs, shivering. Liam picked her phone up off of the coffee table, tucking it in his pocket before kneeling in front of her.
“Emily?” she looked up at him. He knew she was frightened but could see that she was trying to hide it. “You’re going to come upstairs to my flat with me.” Liam’s hand instinctively went to her cheek. Her eyes met his, the browns and golds shimmered in the warm evening light. “Trey and Luke are going to stay in your flat if you’re okay with that. They’re going to cover the window and leave some cameras rolling through the night.”
“O-okay. I’m o-okay with th-that. I’m s-s-orry I c-can’t stop s-shaking.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for.” Liam instinctively lifted her up and carried her to her front door. Luke held it open for him as he shuffled past and walked straight upstairs to his flat. Once inside, he set Emily on his sofa and went to the bedroom where he pulled out a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt from his dresser. He could have gone back downstairs to grab something for her to sleep in, but he wasn’t about to leave her alone.
After setting the clothes in the bathroom, he walked back to the living room and found Emily sitting on the edge of the cushion. She lifted her head to him as he made his way back to her. “Hey. I put a change of clothes in the bathroom for you. Do you want to take a hot shower? It will help you warm up.”
“Yes,” she told him.
Liam took her hand to help her stand and guided her to the bathroom. “I’ll be right here in the living room. If you need anything, I’m right here.”
As Emily stepped through the bathroom, she turned and quietly called his name, “Liam?”
Protecting His Windflower (A Spirit Hunters Series Novel Book 1) Page 7