Sinister Entity (29 page)

Leaping onto the bed, he passed through the crackling field of static that surrounded the EB and grabbed Jessica around the waist, pulling them both into a heap on the bed.
 

“Get back!” he shouted at it. Jessica squirmed under him.
 

“Let it take me on,” she protested. “I can handle it!”

“No…you can’t!”

It was a matter of seconds before the EB retreated. Lashing out at Jessica had drained it considerably.

“Oh shit,” Eddie murmured. He felt the blow a moment before it hammered into him.
 

A blast of white-hot light buried itself into the center of his brain. He recoiled with a pained grunt. Jessica rolled out from under him and pushed herself up on his chest.
 

They both turned their heads when they heard someone yell, “What the hell is going on here?”

Chapter Forty-One

Eddie could only groan in reply. Jessica saw the drained look on his face and awkwardly slipped off of him and onto the floor.
 

Greg Leigh stood in the doorway, his eyes half-closed with the telltale, faraway look that said he had had a few drinks too many. He gripped the frame for support.
 

“This is what you two do when I give you the run of my house?” he blurted, his words running together in a sloppy bunch.
 

“It’s nothing like you’re thinking,” Jessica said in protest. She bent over Eddie to make sure he was all right.
 

He grabbed his skull with both hands and his eyes were pinched shut. He stammered, “Oh, this is bad, Jess,” before turning to his side, away from Greg’s angry stare.
 

“You have one minute to explain yourselves,” Greg said.
 

“Greg, I need you to calm down, please. We just made contact with the entity that’s been in your house.”

“I’m sure you made plenty of contact,” he mocked.
 

Jessica rushed to his side. “Look, I know what you must be thinking, but you’re way off base. We just had an intense experience with a male presence that has been stalking your daughter. It assaulted me. You came in right after Eddie broke its grip on me.”

Greg eyed them both, saw that Eddie was in obvious pain. He stepped into the room, collapsing into the desk chair. It seemed like an hour before he said, “Go on.”

Jessica returned to Eddie’s side on the bed. He had maneuvered himself so he was on all fours, attempting to get right-side up. “We’ve got trouble,” he said through gritted teeth. “It’s nearby. It’s always been close.” He seemed to be talking more to himself than anyone in the room.
 

After helping him into a sitting position, she said to Greg, “I think I need to start with Eddie. He’s more than just my assistant. Eddie is also a psychic-medium.”

She waited for Greg to say something negative, but he only stared at them with withering patience.
 

She continued, “Until I met Eddie, I didn’t believe in psychics myself, but he’s proven me wrong on more than one occasion. He just introduced me to a special technique of his where I was able to see and experience what he could see. There’s a male Energy Being that’s attached itself to Selena. Something is very wrong with it, both in life and now in death. I think it knew her in some way when it was alive.”

Greg closed his eyes and stretched his neck like a prizefighter before stepping into the ring. He buried his head in his hands and said, “How am I supposed to believe all of this? First there’s some
thing
in my house that looks like my daughter, and now you’re telling me there’s an evil male ghost too? I hope you can understand why I feel you’re stretching the limits of credibility here.”

Jessica said, “Trust me, I do. Confronting situations like this is something I face all the time and even I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around this one. All I know for sure is that Selena is in danger and we need to do everything we can to eliminate this threat.”

That’s when Eddie finally spoke. “That won’t be so easy.” His face was drawn and he looked as if he were short two pints of blood. “The spirit found my weak spot, went right for it. While I was connected to you, you were vulnerable. It knows all about you, Jess. More importantly, it knows your gift now, which means there’s no chance in hell it’s about to give you what you need.”

Jessica felt the walls closing in. It seemed no matter what she did, the multiple EBs were one step ahead of her. To make it worse, now she knew that her mere presence only increased its destructive energy. She was beginning to regret ever thinking she could help this poor family, but stopped herself from saying that to Greg. There had to be another way. Her father wouldn’t have sent Eddie into her life without good reason. She needed time to figure out what to do next.
 

“You both sound nuts,” Greg said, staggering to get up. She wondered how he managed driving to the house without killing anyone. Now that things had settled down, her nose twitched at the sour scent of alcohol coming off him in waves. “You’re going to have to give me more than just crazy talk to keep me from sending you back to New York, again.”

Eddie said, “You can’t deny what you all saw the other day in this room. Even though you didn’t see what just happened here, there’s no way you can explain away what you and your family experienced.”

Greg opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
 

“And you saw Selena’s doppelganger in your garage. None of that was imagined. We’re telling you the truth, and we have nothing to gain. There’s a real threat to Selena, and it’s not from the doppelganger. In fact, I doubt you’ll see it again. It fulfilled its purpose, which was to get help. If you don’t want us to be the ones, fine, but you can’t ignore this. We can’t let you do that.”

Jessica cringed inside, hoping he hadn’t pressed too far. Greg’s pride as the protector of his family had been dashed to tiny bits. Taking orders from a couple of kids wasn’t going to make things any better. She needed to step in, fast.
 

“We’re not asking anything of you other than your permission to do whatever we can to help Selena. In fact, you may be able to lend us a hand.” She caught her image in the mirror behind his head and stiffened. Gingerly, she pulled the sides of her shirt down past her collar bones and saw the deep bruises in the shape of fingerprints on either side. In her struggle, she hadn’t felt any physical sensation other than a hot desire to break free from the EB’s grasp. The purpling marks on her body were proof that it had considerable power and malicious intent.
 

Greg saw the bruises as well, sobering at the reality of the situation. That derailed his train of thought. He pointed at her, paused and said, “What do you need me to do?”

The tension that had built within Jessica finally eased and the thick atmosphere in the room deflated.
 

Eddie preempted her, saying, “This spirit, or EB, knew Selena very well when it was alive. It hasn’t been dead very long, but with each passing day, it’s learning how to adapt to its new incarnation, getting more substantial. If we’re going to find it, we’ll need your help. Do you know of anyone close to the family that recently passed away?”

Jessica hoped it wasn’t a family member. What she had sensed was putrid. It was hard to imagine a relative or friend wanting to do things to a teenager like this EB.
 

“Her grandmother, Rita’s mom, died a year ago.”
 

“This is definitely a male,” Jessica said. “Is there anyone else you can think of?”

Greg shook his head. “No one. Not even any distant family or friends.”

“Anyone in the school or neighborhood?” Eddie asked.
 

“I…I’m not sure. I know a few of my immediate neighbors, but that’s about it, and they’re all alive and well.”

Eddie prodded him. “There has to be some connection, a passing that meant nothing to you when it happened but left some unresolved issues in its wake. We’re going to have to talk to Selena, too, but if there’s anything you can think of to spare her that... I got a very strong impression that the answer is very, very close to your home. Every neighborhood has a person who knows everyone’s business. Growing up, we appointed the old woman next door, Marnie, the unofficial mayor of our block. If someone farted in their sleep, she somehow knew about it. You have to have someone like that here.”

Sighing, Greg looked like a man about to break. A burst of thunder shook the house in tandem with a flash of lightning. The storm was as much outside the house as it was within.
 

Greg bumpd the wall with his fist and said, “Wait, I know exactly who you mean. Come with me.”

Selena was the first to wake up and notice her father was gone. Assuming he was out at a store or getting an early dinner for them, she stretched, put on her sneakers and walked outside. The narrow awning was no match for the rain that blew sideways, drenching her in seconds. She’d wanted some fresh air and a chance to escape the cooped-up hotel room, but this was too much.

The wind caught hold of the door and slammed it shut behind her when she jumped back into the room. Her mother snapped wide awake at the sound, relaxing when she saw Selena, dripping wet.
 

“Did you just take a dip in the pool?” she asked.
 

Selena ran her hands through her sodden, stringy hair. “I only stepped out the door for two seconds. I need a towel.”

“I’ll get it for you.”

“I’ve got it, Mom. It’s like seven feet to the bathroom.”
 

She vigorously rubbed the towel through her hair, worried by the girl looking back at her in the mirror. Even after a two-hour nap, she looked like hell. This whole experience was a drain not just on her, but now the whole family. She’d been reading up on ghosts the day before Jessica and Eddie had arrived and one of the things she came across had stuck with her. Negative hauntings were often made worse because of the reactions of those being haunted. Some spirits fed on fear, preferring to prey on terrified victims, gaining strength by siphoning off emotional energy.
 

“What the hell has happened to you?” she asked her reflection, relieved that it wasn’t a double walker mimicking her on the other side of the glass.
 

“Did you see your father?” her mother asked.
 

She emerged from the bathroom with her hair wrapped in the towel. Ricky was still out like a light.
 

“Nope. I was hoping he was out getting us something to eat. I’m starving.”

She followed her mother’s gaze as she eyed the half-empty bottle of whiskey and plastic cup on the small table. She saw the lines of worry etch across her brow.
 

Now what?
she thought. Something had happened between her mother and father while she was asleep. Her mother was doing a poor job of hiding her concern, but for what?

Selena decided she was no longer going to play the victim. It seemed as if everything had started with her, and she was going to do whatever she could to make it stop.
 

Chapter Forty-Two

Jessica and Eddie slogged across the muddy lawn to Greg’s neighbor’s house. They were soaked to the skin in an instant. He had a large wraparound porch that held the storm at bay and gave them momentary shelter. Whatever effects Greg had been suffering from his drinking binge were long gone now. Adrenaline had flushed it all out of his system.

He explained, “Mr. Murphy has lived here all his life. He knows everything about everybody. I figure he’s as good a place to start as anyone.”

Jessica stepped back when he swung the screen door wide and knocked heavily, if not frantically, on the front door. “Mr. Murphy, it’s me, Greg Leigh. Mr. Murphy.”

A round, gray-haired man wearing a Hawaiian shirt and tan slacks answered the door. He held a can of Piels Beer and eyed them all warily.
 

“Is something wrong, Greg? You look like you’ve just seen the ghost of Christmas Future. Who are your friends?”

“Can we come in and talk?” Greg said, having no patience for formalities.

“Sure, sure, come on in. Go on back to the kitchen where you can drip dry.”

Eddie pulled close to her and said, “We need to pay attention to this guy. He’s going to help us without realizing it.”

She nodded. Eddie looked wet and tired, but there was a newfound burning in his eyes that told her he wasn’t about to let up until they got to the bottom of things.
 

Mr. Murphy’s kitchen must have been brand spanking new in 1970. It didn’t look like much had changed since then. The walls were covered in pale green tiles with black trim and the linoleum floor was scuffed and cracked in more places than she could count. They sat around an aluminum table with a faux Formica top.
 

“Can I interest anyone in a beer? I was just about to have my one can of suds for the day and heat up some soup.”

“Next time,” Greg said.
 

Jessica and Eddie introduced themselves, but didn’t say why they were there. That was better left to Greg.