Paranormal Summer (Indigo Moon Rising) (2 page)

Miles from civilization, the three began their journey of friendship into a paranormal, metaphysical reality, meeting for the first time on the nameless dirt road, no signs, simply known by the townsfolk as "Wicked Way." All four sides of the property were lined heavily in trees, like an impenetrable forest. Very few people knew what was hiding inside. A boy was waiting, leaning against a tree as two girls walked up. They all nodded to each other, as if telepathically communicating 'let's do it'.

The young man, with a flashlight in hand, turned and headed in. He disappeared, as if swallowed up by the woods. The girls switched their lights on and followed. As the three made their way through the thick trees and overgrown brush, they found themselves surrounded by the inhabitants of the night, their flashlights barely lighting the way. They trekked through a century's worth of growth, a path hidden forever. Finally, with excitement and apprehension they arrived at their destination. A giant yellow moon illuminated a weathered old cabin, facing a small pond.

Stepping onto the porch, checking the steps as he went, Ryan walked through the large room, and on into the only other room. It was small, crampt. It was pitch black. It had no window, or door. He sat down, opened his backpack, and took out a candle and a box of matches, placing them on the floor. He then took out a digital recorder, pushed the 'Record' button and set it next to the candle.

Sonya sat down to the left of Ryan. She was tall and thin, jet-black straight hair, with turquoise streaks. She was dressed all in black and wore black eyeliner with exquisite little drawings on one temple. A wire and beaded earring hung at the bottom of her ear, topped by 3 studs outlining the arch above it.

Then there was Jillian, short and curvy, pale skin and long curly blond hair, dressed in blue jeans and a pink shirt under a gray hoodie. She had the appearance of a fresh face country girl. She also sat down, and unzipped her hoodie. One by one, they turned off their flashlights. They sat in silence.

The sound of a match striking the sulfur broke the silence. The tiny flame touched the wick and it grew tremendously, lighting the circle of the three. The glow barely reached the faces of the teenagers, knee-to-knee, trying to suppress the excitement they felt. Jillian blew out the match and took a deep breath.

As if performing a ritual, Jillian held out her hands, left palm up, right one down above her knees. Following her lead, Sonya put her left palm up touching Jillian's, and right palm down. Then Ryan's large, warm hand felt its way under Sonya's left hand and then with a deep breath, took Jillian's hand completing the circle. The room was silent. Outside the wind was still. The giant yellow watched down upon the cabin, waiting for the foretold seers to begin their journey.

Jillian began to speak. "Hello. My name is Jillian. This is Sonya and Ryan. We would like to talk with you. Please give us a sign of your presence." Nothing happened. They all listened for any little sound, or sign, "We don't mean you any harm. We just want to talk to you. We want to understand. Some people believe that after we die there is nothing. Some people believe that after we die they go to either heaven or hell. Some believe that there is a place between this place and heaven. If you are in that place, in another dimension, and still here, we would like to know the truth, what it is like, and why. What keeps you? Do you have unfinished business we can help you with?" She paused, waiting for a knocking or the sound of something falling or being thrown. Nothing, "You must be you at peace with your family in heaven." But before she could finish her sentence, the flame began to grow and dance violently. A cold rush of heavy air began to surround them on the floor. As it moved higher, they looked at each other and began to shiver. The cold was engulfing them, fog lingering at their warm lips.

Jillian's head dropped to her chest, and just her eyes rose to meet the others. She began to feel heavy, overwhelmed. Her eyes closed, her forehead wrinkled with a frown. She started shaking her head back and forth.
"
You don't understand. I didn't do anything to hurt her,”
a voice said. It was coming from Jillian, but it was not hers.

Sonya realized this was not Jillian talking. "You are not Jillian, are you? You don't understand what? Please tell us what you are talking about."

"I feel so depressed. My heart is breaking," Jillian said as tears began to run down her cheeks. "It... It's hard to breathe, it's so heavy." She said as she began to weep.

Ryan watched the candlelight play on Jillian's face, it looked like it was morphing into another person. This person looked older, and then as he began to focus on her, he saw the face of another woman. He realized that the spirit was able to communicate, using Jillian, and he was able to see what she wanted him to see. The scene shifted to an explosion of sunlight. He saw this woman outside tending to her plants. She was radiant, and the glow around her seemed to literally connect her to each living thing. Her wavy golden hair shimmered as it blew in the warm breeze. Her skin was fair and glowing, and she had large light blue fawn-like eyes rimmed in sapphire. Somehow, he could see all of this in his mind’s eye. The sun was warming the earth and making the plants grow. She was in such harmony with everything around her.

Sonya watched Ryan, how focused he was, his eyes open wide, how he seemed entranced.

Ryan could see that the gardens were lush and full of color, vines, and flowers of all types. Butterflies nectared and warmed their wings in the sun and bees were heavy with pollen. The cabin looked new, and the pond was so close you could see the sparkling ripples dance on the front porch. In a flash, Ryan was snapped back into the candle lit room looking at Jillian, (or the spirit talking through Jillian) who was saying,
"Please, help me find her, please."

Ryan let go of the girls' hands, and began to rub his palms together as if he were freezing. He flicked his fingertips like they were wet. Sonya looked at him as if he was crazy, and Jillian shook her head, wiping her face on her hoodie sleeve. She inhaled deeply and looked at the two. "Oh my God, what was that? I have been depressed before but not like that. It felt like I didn't want to live, but there was no way to die either."

Ryan asked, "What did you see?
Who
were you?"

"I didn't see anything. It felt as if my whole body was drenched in sorrow. My heart ached, lost. I didn't know that lost was a feeling." Jillian said sighing heavily as if to expel it from her lungs.

Sonya shook her head in disbelief, "Either you were transported to another reality and someone else was using your body, or girl you are crazy. Did you ever think about being an actress? You were almost believable! Can you always cry on demand like that?"

Ryan shook his head, "You were not acting, were you?"

"I don't know what came over me...Just feelings out of nowhere." Jillian said turning her flashlight on and looking around the room.

Sonya squinted looking at the two, "Oh, so maybe you people conjured this up to see if you could freak me out? Well, aint gonna work." She said standing up and brushing off her butt, dusty from the old wood floor and turned on her flashlight.

Ryan got to his feet, and asked, "I know you two believe in ghosts and hauntings and spirits, right? Otherwise, we would not have agreed to meet here. That is why I sent you the friend request. You have some of the same likes on your profile as I do. Haven't you ever seen something that you couldn't explain, or known something you had no way of knowing? Like predict something before it happens?" His voice was getting louder and more agitated as he tried to think of more examples from his own experiences. "Don't you ever see silhouettes or shadows just standing there, and sometimes they walk right by you, or through things, like walls? What about the voices? There are times when I can understand what they are saying, and sometimes they are just tiny whispers like a buzzing, I can recognize a few words, but not enough to make sense."

"It's not words stupid, its mosquitoes," Sonya said laughing and shaking her head. "Didn't think I was gonna hook up with a couple of crazies, but ya know, they warn you that the people you meet on Facebook are not always what they make themselves out to be. I like the paranormal stuff, but possession is not what I want to get involved with. Ryan, I heard about you at school, that you were a loner, now I know why." She Looked at Jillian, "Maybe that's why you moved here for the summer. To keep out of trouble. I wondered why you two don't even use your real pictures on your profiles." Sonya waved the flashlight around in the larger room. She was just checking. What if they had set her up, just to make fun of her, to tell everyone that they had proof she was crazy, like the rest of her family. She was not about to let that happen. She had to play innocent to the whole ordeal or be knocked down again. Every time she thought she had friends, something would ruin it. She felt like she had to strike first, so she wouldn't get hurt. Why did she even agree to do this tonight? Maybe it was better to be a loner than have friends and do things together; it has always proved to be painful. She just couldn't be herself around anyone. Well, not now, not this time, even though she would have to lie about something she knew to be true.

Jillian swallowed hard. It was not made up. She was not doing this for attention. How many times had this happened, where feelings just overcame her, out of the blue? Too often. And she had been so excited to do this, knowing it could be dangerous. Now all hopes for having friends this summer seemed to disappear. She felt totally alone.

"I know she wasn't faking it because I saw something, and it wasn't a possession, like a demon, there was a woman standing out there in the garden. It was when the cabin was new. She was connected to everything...Vibrationally. It was beautiful." Ryan said, reaching his hand out to Jillian. She looked up. Ryan stood there waiting to help her to her feet. She felt relief, as if
he
did believe her.

"Okay then buddy, I think you dialed the wrong number because that's obviously not what she was getting. Unless we have a manic-depressive ghost. She was feeling sorrow, and you were getting a gardener? Well, I've had enough," Sonya said as she walked out of the room. She swallowed hard and blinked quickly to hide the tears.

Jillian looked at Ryan as he helped her up. Did she honestly believe him? And what was all that he kept going on about? Why was he getting so excited or was he angry about shadows and predictions? Ryan's friend request must have come after checking out her likes on her profile page too, and the fact that she had just moved here. Her family believed in the afterlife, that is why under faith she had listed Spiritualist. It was how the universe worked, nothing ever truly dies. As far as
she thought
. No one ever actually spoke about it. End of story. She thought about the TV shows that had ghosts in them, and investigation videos. Yes, she believed there are spirits stuck between here and wherever, and the others had passed on into the light. She had always just believed that there was no heaven or hell, because that is what her family accepted.

Jillian had a flashback, when she was invited to sleep over parties, she would play medium at the séances. Problem was that everyone would start screaming and run after they heard knocking or some kind of response when she asked for it. Then that would be the end of it. Maybe that is why nobody asked her anymore. Were they having their own little paranormal drama like the TV shows right here? However, tonight, she knew what she felt was real.

Jillian and Ryan followed Sonya. As they headed for the front door, Jillian seemed to be sucked into the floor, screaming as she fell. The wood was weak from years of rain that fell through the hole in the roof. From behind, Ryan grabbed her and then removed the rotted, broken floorboards away from her leg. Sonya quickly ran to her side, knelt, and looked at her ankle in the moonlight. "Can you put any weight on it?" She asked helping Jillian to her feet.

Surprised that Sonya had any compassion for her, she answered, "Uh... Ouch, sorta." Now she felt even more incredibly stupid and embarrassed.

"We will look at it at my house." Sonya said putting her arm around her waist and helping her to the door.

As Ryan was placing the broken pieces of wood crosswise over the hole, he saw something and stuck his hand under the floorboards. It was a large book with leather binding and engraving on the front. Opening it, turning its very, very old yellowed pages, he realized it was written with quill and ink, it almost looked like an old scrapbook.

"Wow." He said standing, "Look what I found hiding!"

"What?" Sonya said already out the door and on the front porch.

"I found a book." Ryan said thumbing through the pages and then he slipped it into his backpack.

"Cool!" Grimaced Jillian.

"Whoopee!" Said Sonya sarcastically.

It took a lot longer than they imagined for them to walk back through the woods and to the dirt road that passed by the hidden cabin. Between the silence and Jillian hopping, it seemed to take forever. Ryan offered to get the truck from the farm, which was only about a mile up the road, but Jillian declined. Later she regretted it; she had forgotten what a distance it was from here to her aunt's house. Sonya offered to look at it when they arrived at the Bed and Breakfast, but it was intensely dark inside, and Jillian felt uncomfortable about going in and meeting Sonya's Grandma Hilde under the circumstances. Therefore, she said goodnight and limped home by herself. The night air was warm, and the stars shone bright in the heavens. She thought to herself.
Heavens? Hell? Lost in between? Who knows what is real anymore? Was Ryan acting? He got a remarkably different message than I did. He saw a woman. I felt sorrow. Sonya...Didn't connect at all. Why were we all drawn together like this? Was there a purpose?