Unearthly Realms

by Ron L. Carter

Things were very comfortable at Ty’s mom and dad’s house and the three of them didn’t have to worry about the demons and all the harassment from them. It actually was a little boring, compared to some of the places they had already been together. While they were enjoying their peaceful time Holly had the talk with Ty and Markus she knew she had to have someday to let them know she was ready to move on. She told them she now felt like it was time for her to go to her sister Rebecca’s house and see if she could somehow use her new found abilities to make contact with her. She believed Rebecca would be open to receiving a message or some kind of contact because she always had an open mind when it came to the after-life. Ty looked at Holly and said, “So, does that mean, if you do make contact with her, you’re willing to then to move through the light?” She held her hands together in her lap and with a huge smile on her face replied, “Yes, I believe I’m ready to accept God’s gift for me once I’m satisfied that Rebecca understands that I’m okay.” She told Ty and Markus that she really enjoyed their company, but felt like it was time to move on. Markus said, “If that’s what you want then we’re both right behind you and we’ll support you all the way. If there’s anything we can do to help you we’ll be there.” With that being said, they all agreed to follow Holly’s lead to meet at Rebecca’s apartment. Once they made the commitment, they held hands and it was just a few seconds and they were there inside her apartment.

  When they first arrived at Rebecca’s apartment it was mid-morning and she was already at work. She worked at the local Title Company as one of their title officers. She’d been a title officer for a few years and handled several escrows every day. She used to tell Holly that she always had a heavy workload, and even though she worked hard, she never seemed to get it all done at the end of the day. This taught her that sometimes you just have to stop, walk away and pick up the next day. It will still be there. Since Holly had passed away Rebecca actually liked the busy schedule because it kept her mind from thinking about Holly all the time. It was more like forced therapy to her than anything, plus she had friends from work that helped her out during her hard time of losing Holly.

  While Rebecca was still at work, Holly began to snoop around in her apartment to get an idea of what she was like now and what she’d been doing since Holly had passed. During her searching from room to room she found that Rebecca still lived by herself. It had been three years since Holly had been gone but there were still a lot of her things that Rebecca was keeping in her apartment and close to her heart. One of the things she had was the old rocking chair that her mom used to rock them in when she and Holly were still just little girls. Holly always loved that old chair and would sit in it ever chance she got. Rebecca had talked her mom and dad into letting her have it for her own apartment once she moved away from home. When Holly first saw the old chair, she immediately ran over to it and began rocking back and forth. There were several pictures of the two of them together that were scattered on walls, on the dresser, and on the end table next to her bed. Holly was very happy to see all the pictures and to know that Rebecca was still thinking of her.

  The apartment was like a single story condo because the units were detached and that made them feel more like a small house instead of an apartment. It had two bedrooms, one large bathroom and a big living room. It also had a community outdoor swimming pool and barbeque area. Next to the pool was the covered parking area and it ran along the main street and that’s where Rebecca parked her car. She had to walk about two hundred feet to get to her apartment. Her unit was surrounded by bushes and shrubs that were so thick that they almost hid the walkway leading up to her front door entry. It always worried Rebecca that someone might be hiding in the bushes, waiting to attack her, as she went down the walkway.

  Holly was like a young woman shopping in a new store as she snooped through Rebecca’s things. She started slowly and meticulously going through some of Rebecca’s private items. She was more curious than anything else but occasionally would hold a top up as she looked in the mirror and said, “This is nice, I bet that would fit me.” She and Rebecca used to share a lot of their jewelry, makeup and even some of their clothes. They were the same size and wore the same size shoes so it was fun and easy to trade off from time to time. During her search, Holly found a few books that Rebecca had been reading regarding life after death and realized Rebecca had been doing some research about ghosts and spirits. Ty and Markus knew that Holly needed some time to check things out about her sister. They weren’t really interested in any of the girly stuff so they told Holly they would see her in the other room, once she was done and they excused themselves. They went into the spare bedroom and just stayed out of her way as she continued snooping around. Once they were in the other room, Markus looked at Ty and whispered, “Man, I hope we don’t get bored here with all this girl stuff.” Ty looked at Markus and replied, “Don’t be a jerk, we’ll do whatever it takes to help Holly make contact with her sister.” Markus replied, “Yea, I know. It’s just that I never had a real friend that was a girl before I met Holly. I don’t really know too much about girls and how they think. All I know is they’re a lot different than us guys.” Ty replied, “That’s for sure, even when you’re married to them they do things a lot different than we do. We’ll just give her as much support as she wants and do whatever she asks us to do.” Markus said, “You’re right. I really do want to help her any way we can.”

  It was around six that evening when Rebecca finally made it home from work. She had stopped at the local Chinese restaurant and picked up a chicken rice bowl for dinner. As soon as she arrived home she put the rice bowl on the kitchen table and threw her keys and purse next to them. She seemed a little tired as she went straight into the bedroom, took off her shoes, her work clothes, and threw on a top and a pair of sweat pants. Markus heard that she was home and went to check her out. When he saw her he said to Holly, “Girl, she looks just like you.” Holly replied, “Yea, we are so close in age we’re almost like twins. Sometimes people would ask us if we were.”

  While he was talking to Holly, Markus went over to the rocking chair and without realizing what he was doing began to rock back and forth. Rebecca immediately saw the chair rocking back and forth and there wasn’t anybody in it and she let out a short soft scream as it startled her. She clamped her hands over the lower part of her face and looked through her fingers as she watched it going back and forth. Her mouth and eyes were wide open as she looked at the chair in fear. She knew she hadn’t touched it because she wasn’t even in that corner of the room. She sensed there was another presence in the room with her, but she couldn’t see it. There was something or someone sitting in the chair. Holly immediately noticed Rebecca’s fear and told Markus to get the heck out of the chair. Markus jumped up and said, “Oh crap, I forgot. I’m sorry.” Holly told Markus that she didn’t have a plan yet to try and get her sisters attention but wasn’t sure if that rocking chair would be part of it. The chair stopped rocking and Rebecca started looking around the room and the rest of her apartment, but couldn’t see or find anyone or anything. At least Holly now knew she could get Rebecca’s attention by moving things.

  After several minutes, Rebecca finally started to calm down and called her boyfriend, Josh. She told him about the rocking chair moving back and forth. Josh was Rebecca’s boyfriend of two years and Holly had never met. Holly could tell that he was comforting Rebecca by the way her mood was slowly starting to change from one of apprehension and fear to calm and acceptance. She seemed to feel better the longer she talked to him. After being on the phone a while she was back to herself again and asking Josh if he was going to come over later that night to spend time with her watching television and to hang out. He told her that he had some things he had to do and couldn’t make it, but he would call her later and talk.

  Once she’d hung up the phone, she walked through the apartment very slowly as if she was trying to see Holly or
some other ghostly spirit. She knew something wasn’t right when she looked at her jewelry box on the dresser and a few things were not where she’d left them. She looked at herself in the large mirror above the dresser and said. “I know you’re here with me Holly. I can feel your presence so can you please show yourself and let me know it’s you.” Holly was a little surprised that Rebecca seemed so willing to accept the fact that maybe she was there with her and wanted to see her. Holly tried to say a few things to Rebecca, but she just wasn’t able to hear her.

  Holly went into the spare bedroom where Markus and Ty were sitting and said, “I have to come up with some kind of plan so Rebecca can see me. Ty thought for a minute and then suggested that she start slowly the next day, moving things around and making a few noises to get her attention. He said, “Try to work your way into it slowly so you don’t scare her.” Holly thought that was a great idea and a good place to start. She would let Rebecca absorb the entire rocking chair ordeal and start with something small, like moving her coffee cup or her car keys, like they did with Mr. Potts. She decided she would start the next day, once Rebecca got home from work.

  For the next several days Holly moved things from where Rebecca had left them. She would also slowly open the bedroom door when she knew Rebecca was watching, she made footsteps sounds and tried to talk to her. She even turned the light switch on and off occasionally. She did everything to try and get her attention and it was working. Rebecca was starting to realize she wasn’t just imagining that she was leaving things out of place or hearing noises and footsteps, it was someone else. A few times she even put things out of place on purpose to see if Holly would put them back where they belonged. It took a few times, but Holly realized what Rebecca was doing and would always place the item back where they were supposed to go. One night, when Rebecca was almost asleep, Holly was able to make her body appear as a white floating mist as she floated over Rebecca’s bed. She thought it resembled a woman and watched it until it faded out. The one thing Holly couldn’t do yet was make her body manifest completely so Rebecca could see her full body apparition.

  Since Holly’s passing, Rebecca had purchased and read several books about EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) recorders that could sometimes pick up spirit voices if you asked questions to your loved ones that had passed on. She believed that Holly was in her apartment and decided she was going to purchase one of the units to see if she could hear Holly’s voice talking to her. She bought one and had it set up and ready to go the next day. She could hardly wait to try it out. She had Josh come over so he could give her support, just in case she did hear Holly’s voice coming through to her. It didn’t happen that day as she was hoping, but she kept trying it for several days in a row, with no results. Every time Holly would try to come through, the batteries on the EVP recorder would automatically drain. It was very disappointing for both of them, but Rebecca was persistent and continued to recharge the batteries in the EVP recorder each time they drained down. She was convinced, if she kept trying, sooner or later she would get a response from Holly. After trying over and over again almost to the point where she was starting to doubt herself she was finally able to pick up a faint response to a question she had asked Holly. At first, when she played the recorder back, she was stunned to hear the voice even though it wasn’t very clear. She played the EVP recorder back again, several times and she could hear it as the voice came through like a soft whisper. She had asked Holly if she was there with her and Holly’s response was a faint “yes”. Rebecca listened to it over and over again and was convinced it was Holly’s voice. Once she had proof of Holly’s response she starting asking more questions. She asked Holly if she was the one in her apartment that was making all the things move from where she had left them and Holly responded with a “yes” again. Holly called Markus and Ty into the room to see that she had finally made the connection with Rebecca. Holly was very excited as she said, “Look, she can hear me!” Ty and Markus were very happy for her as Markus grabbed her by the hand and they jumped up and down. This was what Holly was trying so desperately to do and it was now happening. Rebecca was so excited that she couldn’t seem to ask the questions quick enough, but Holly’s energy would only allow her to answer a few at a time before it would fade out.

  Rebecca couldn’t wait to call Josh and tell him that she had made contact with Holly. Josh was really happy for her, but didn’t let her know how he really felt about it. He was like a lot of people who didn’t know if they believed in ghost or spirits. He was more than a little apprehensive about the entire “ghost voice” thing Rebecca was telling him about. He just wasn’t sure if he believed you could make contact with people that had passed on. Rebecca said, “You have to come over tomorrow, after I get off work, and hear her voice for yourself. I’ll fix you dinner and after dinner I’ll ask Holly some questions and we’ll record her answers.” Josh was willing to give it a try so they made plans to meet the next evening at 6:30.

  After she hung up the phone with Josh, she called her mom and dad to tell them the good news about hearing Holly’s voice. Her mom answered the phone and Rebecca began telling her mom what had happened. She said, “Mom, I heard Holly’s voice, it came through on the EVP recorder I purchased. I kept asking if she was with me and after a lot of attempts she finally answered yes to my questions.” Her mom replied, “Really, you heard Holly’s voice?” Rebecca laughed out loud and said, “Yes, mom I asked if she was the one moving things around in my house and she answered yes.” Rebecca’s mom couldn’t believe that it really may be possible. She was both excited and happy, but also apprehensive about it, just like Josh. She asked Rebecca if she could play it back for her over the phone and so she did. Her mom said “It is so faint I can hardly hear it so I couldn’t tell if it was Holly’s voice or not.” Rebecca told her mom that if she could hear it in person she would be able to tell it was Holly. She told her mom that Josh was coming over the following evening, but maybe they could get together in a few days and she could see for herself that Holly was truly there with her in her apartment. She told her she would bring it over on the weekend so she could hear it for herself. They agreed they would meet on Saturday. That night, Rebecca was so excited she could hardly sleep. When she went to bed she lay there and said to Holly, “I knew you would contact me, I just knew it. I love you and miss you so much Holly.” She tossed and turned most of the night and it wasn’t until around 2:00 in the morning when she finally fell asleep.

  The next day at work, Rebecca told a few of the girls in the office about what had happened and the entire day she couldn’t wait to get home and meet with Josh so he could also hear Holly’s voice for himself. When she arrived home she did her normal routine; threw her purse and keys on the kitchen table and then headed to her bedroom to change. Because of all of her excitement, she forgot to lock the door behind her when she got home. Since Josh was coming over later, she decided she would take a quick shower to freshen up, before she changed into something more comfortable. After she got out of the shower, she dried off; put on her panties and bra and then she heard a noise in the living room. At first, she was very excited because she thought it might be Holly just trying to get her attention once again. Then it suddenly occurred to her that she had forgotten to lock the front door as she’d come in. A moment of terror sent a shiver up her spine when she realized what she’d done. Since she lived alone, that was something she never forgot to do. She was always afraid of being attacked. One of her biggest fears was of being attacked and raped. She very slowly stepped out of the bathroom and into her bedroom. She tip toed over to her bed where she had laid out her jeans and a top and quickly put them on. That’s when she saw him.

  One of her worst nightmares was now standing inside her apartment and at her bedroom door. He was holding a long hunting knife in his right hand with his index finger over his lips as he looked at her. Rebecca stood there frozen, in fear for her l
ife, not knowing what exactly she should do. She knew that if she screamed, he would attack and kill her. She also knew that if she did nothing, he was still going to kill her. For a few short seconds, she stood there frozen, contemplating her next move. She wasn’t sure if she was going to run for the phone, grab something to hit him with or scream. She knew she wasn’t going to just lie down and let him rape and kill her. She instantly made up her mind. She was going to fight him.

  In that short second she recognized him. She had seen him before, just hanging around the apartment complex. He was a neighbor who she thought lived just around the corner. He wasn’t a bad looking guy; he was around six foot tall with longer dark brown hair and a mustache. Rebecca had said hello to him a few times, but every time she saw him, he creeped her out. He seemed a little too interested in her. He would always just stand and watch her as she walked away, like he was lusting after her. He would also show up in weird places, as she was getting off work, when she was out by the pool, or anytime she was walking around the complex.

  At that moment, she knew that his intentions were to rape her and was convinced he probably would kill her because she could now identify him. He wasn’t trying to hide his face. With horror in her voice she said, “What do you want?” In a deep voice, he slowly replied, “You know what I want bitch! You’ve been teasing me for a long time around here. Now you’re going to get what you’ve been asking for.” He took a step toward her as he said, “Take off all your clothes, now!” That’s when Rebecca began to back up and plead with him not to hurt her. She was looking next to the bed to see where her baseball bat was. Everything was happening so fast she was afraid to try and grab it. She was also afraid he might use it on her. She began to take off her top very slowly while pleading with him the entire time. He said, “It doesn’t matter what you say, you’re still going to get what’s coming to you. And you’re going to enjoy it.” For that short moment Rebecca thought, “What a sicko this guy is! How could he think she was going to enjoy something he was forcing her to do?” As she continued to take off her clothes, she kept pleading with him to not hurt her.

  Tyler, Markus and Holly were in the other room when they heard Rebecca’s frantic voice and could tell something was wrong. They immediately went running to her room and saw the intruder approaching her with the knife in his hand. By then he seemed to think he was going to win her over with his smooth, soft, voice talking about what he was going to do to her. Without even thinking about it, Ty looked at Markus and said, “Let’s get him.” Markus replied, “You got it,” and they both tackled him and threw him to the floor. He was caught off guard and it took him totally by surprise. Someone or something he couldn’t see had just knocked him very hard to the ground. There was shock in his face as he got to his feet. He was looking around the room to see what had just happened to him. Just as he got to his feet, Ty and Markus tackled him again, knocking him off his feet again. In total disbelief, he now knew there was someone or something in the room with them and “it or they” were protecting Rebecca. Once he got to his feet the third time, Ty and Markus charged him and threw him against the wall and then back to the floor. They threw him around a few more times before he realized he’d dropped the knife. Rebecca saw what was happening and it gave her a minute to grab her baseball bat and call 911. Now that the rapist had fear for his own life, he wasn’t concerned about Rebecca. He gave up his pursuit of her and began running from her apartment. After he left, Rebecca couldn’t believe her eyes as she had watched the entire event unfold. She had watched someone toss the rapist around her bedroom like he was a rag doll, yet she couldn’t see who was doing it.

  The guy had been so freaked out by the attack from the unseen entities that he couldn’t get out of the apartment quick enough. Ty and Markus were knocking him around the room as he left. Rebecca was still on the phone to the 911 operator as she quickly ran and locked the door the moment he left. The operator told her the police would be there in a few minutes, so Rebecca went to the kitchen and grabbed one of her long butcher knives and held onto it while she waited. She was still shaking and upset as she called Josh to tell him what had happened. He told her he would be right over. For the few minutes she had alone waiting for the police and Josh, she told Holly, “I know it was you who saved me. Thank you, I love you so much!”

  The police arrived within a few minutes and had to reassure her it was them before she’d let them in. She explained everything to them about what had happened and told them that an unseen “entity” had saved her from being raped and killed by the intruder. At first, the police weren’t sure if they believed her story. They thought maybe she was on drugs or maybe even a little mentally unstable. It wasn’t until she took them into her bedroom and showed them the knife lying on the floor that they started to believe her story. They weren’t sure about the entities protecting her, but they did realize someone had come into her house with the knife. They waited for a forensic team to come and collect the knife so they could get fingerprints off of it. Rebecca told the police that she’d seen the guy before and believed he lived in the complex around the corner, but wasn’t sure what number it was. Josh arrived a few minutes after the police got there and began to comfort her. He told her that after the police left she had to come and stay with him until they were able to catch the guy. He didn’t want her take any chances, just in case the guy were to come back.

  It was only a few hours later the police called and told her they had the guy in custody. They had staked out the apartment complex and caught him as he came out of his apartment. They told her that after they ran his finger prints through the system they found out he was the serial rapist and killer they’d been looking for, for a few years. He had raped and killed six other girls in the last five years in and around the town she lived in. They told Rebecca that she would have to go to court and testify against him, but she didn’t need to worry because it was unlikely he’d ever be released from prison if he didn’t end up with the death penalty.

  Ty and Markus were very happy with themselves for their part in saving Rebecca. For the next few days Markus couldn’t stop talking about how they “threw the guy around.” Holly was very grateful to them for saving Rebecca’s life and couldn’t thank them enough.

  A few days after the guy was arrested Rebecca went back to her apartment. Holly told Ty and Markus that since she had made contact with Rebecca it was time for her to “pass through the light.” She told them that when Rebecca got off work that night, she was going to put in a request to the angels to guide her through. Ty and Markus told Holly they would miss her, but they would see her “on the other side” someday. They also told her they would be by her side as she passed through the light to the other side.

  That evening, after Rebecca got off work and was changing her clothes, she was feeling good, just knowing that Holly was there, and had been protecting her from the rapist. She was mentally in a good place to accept seeing Holly. Later that night, while she was sleeping, Holly was able to wake her from her sleep and get her attention. She appeared to Rebecca in the bedroom mirror. Rebecca was a little shocked to see Holly just standing there, smiling at her as a full body apparition. As she looked at Holly, she could see that she was really happy to see her. While they both just smiled at each other, a majestic and brilliant white light filled the entire room. All Rebecca could see was how happy Holly was. She looked at her with complete amazement. Rebecca tried to talk to Holly, but couldn’t get a verbal response back from her. She thanked Holly for saving her life and told her that she loved her. Holly just shook her head up and down and mouthed the words, “I love you too Rebecca.” After about fifteen seconds, Holly waved goodbye to Rebecca then turned and seemed to glide further back into the mirror towards the light. Rebecca could see shadow figures coming out to meet her as she started to fade deeper and deeper into the light. There was a sudden flash and then Holly was gone. Holly had
fulfilled her desire to communicate with Rebecca and now was able to pass through the light and have eternal peace.

  The next day, Rebecca went to her parents’ house and told them everything that she had experienced with Holly during the past few weeks. Even though she had told them about the rapist, she was now able to tell them about the unseen entity that had saved her life. Rebecca played the recording that had Holly’s voice on it in several places. They were very happy and thankful to have heard the messages from Holly. Rebecca was especially happy that she was able to see Holly one last time. She told her mom and dad how Holly had appeared in the mirror before her and told her she loved her before she faded into a brilliant white light. They all got a great deal of satisfaction out of the fact that Holly was now in a happy and peaceful place. For the first time, since her death, they were able to feel at peace and go on with their lives knowing Holly was okay.

  * * *

  Chapter 14 – Zitrik and the Underwater Base