A/N: Thanks so much to all of my readers for giving this story a chance. Enjoy the chapter!
Medium
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Part Two – First Investigations
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The first investigation that I went on with Jacob and his team was interesting. It was a week after Halloween, and Jacob had gotten permission for us to go into the church on Charles Street. There were conditions, of course. We could only have ourselves, a digital camera, and a tape recorder. None of the lights would be turned off, and we were not allowed to stay after ten o'clock. Jacob and I stayed in the chapel while Quil and Claire went to the basement to see if they could find anything.
About an hour into it, a priest came out to pray. We left him alone to do his thing. Afterward he stood up and turned to stare at us. I waved at him, but he didn't respond. Jacob furrowed his brow and snapped a few pictures of the priest. I gave him a dirty look. After a few minutes, the priest walked away.
"What was that?" I asked, turning to Jacob. "Could you have a little respect?"
Jacob gestured toward the pulpit. "What were you waving at?"
"The priest." I said it like it was obvious, because it should have been.
"The dead one?"
I got it then. I was the only one who saw him. I sighed. "Yeah, I guess. Sorry I got snippy."
Jacob just shrugged. "Hopefully we got something of him."
I saw the priest a few more times, but he never said anything. He wasn't doing anything abnormal. The fourth time he came out, I decided to try something. I walked up to him and introduced myself. He walked through me and went on his way. It was then I realized what was going on.
I shrugged and turned to the others. Quil and Claire had just come up from the basement. They said they hadn't experienced anything, although Claire had clung to Quil's arm the whole time.
"Find anything up here?" Quil asked.
"She's been doing her psychic thing with a priest," Jacob responded, gesturing to me. "Not sure if I got anything on camera, though."
"You might not. He's just a recording himself." I shrugged.
Quil laughed. "What?"
"I call it a ghost rather than a spirit. The priest spent so much of his time and devoted so much to this church that his impression is still here. Trying to communicate with him would be like trying to talk to a character on a TV show. He's not really here."
Jacob nodded. "I know what you're talking about, but it's still a bummer."
We left the church at ten o'clock and went back to Jacob's place to look over our footage. All in all, we caught absolutely nothing. It was still nice to know that we were able to work together and pull off a real investigation.
I talked to the pastor at my church a few weeks later and got us in to my church. I'd known the pastor since I was a young girl, and he was one of the people who accepted what I claimed without believing it himself. He gave us permission to investigate the church. We had pretty much the same conditions, except this time Jake was able to take the EMF detector along with.
He had explained to me that it was meant to capture any spikes in the electro-magnetic field that paranormal beings were said to be able to manipulate. The results of that investigation were the same as the last, but without the spiritual impressions. The one time the EMF detected anything significant was near a generator.
Quil was pretty smug about the whole thing. He reminded us all that the Other Side didn't exist. I didn't bother to comment; I knew what I saw and experienced. I was already looking forward to our next outing, even though we didn't know when or where that might be.
Jacob and I met for lunch a few times over the next few weeks. He was in school to get his Master's degree in computer engineering. He had one year left before graduation. I still wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I was just in it for the generals. I always liked spending time with him, but I found as time went on that I enjoyed it more than I did hanging out with my other friends. I felt closer to Jacob simply because he knew about my gift and accepted it as fact. According to him, I'd proven myself on that first investigation. For all he knew, I could have made all of it up. He trusted me, though, and that felt so good.
After the first of the year, Jacob started to really push advertisement for Beyond the Veil. We even got better business cards with our pictures on them. I passed mine out to anyone who seemed like they might be interested. The third week in January, we finally got a call.
A woman who lived alone with her eight-year-old boy called to tell us that she believed her son was haunted. His clothes would go missing, lights would flicker, he'd complain of a monster in his closet, and his books would rearrange themselves. I was really excited to go on this investigation; I wondered if I could even help whatever spirit was causing it to move on.
Once the team was assembled and ready, we went over to the house at dusk. It was a pretty well-known fact that paranormal activity was higher at night. The mother, Ingrid, let us in and introduced us to her son, Jaime. He looked like a little punk with torn clothing and a mean face, but I kept my observations to myself. The first thing I did was try to search out any spirits. I didn't feel any negative energy at all. The usual positive fluctuation was there. Every time I looked at the boy, though, my back tightened just a little. I had a feeling he was behind it all.
In the end, I was right. Not only did we catch absolutely nothing paranormal, but we also saw the little brat manning the light switches to make them flicker. I had to wonder how much attention Ingrid actually paid to her son. We gave her our results, thanked her for calling us, and left.
"That was a disappointment," Jacob said on our way back to his house.
I scoffed. "Understatement."
Quil, once again, was smug about it. Claire was happy to at least say she was the one that saw the boy at the light switches.
I told myself not to give up. Maybe if I could convince Jacob to do an investigation on my life, we'd get something. Nothing ever stayed long, though, and I never knew when they'd start talking. I couldn't ask Jake, Quil, and Claire to follow me around all the time with all of the equipment. So instead, I continued living as normal, still meeting with Jacob more often than the rest of my friends, and still feeling more and more comfortable around him.
For shits and giggles, I decided to always carry a small tape recorder and digital camera with me. One night at home, I was doing homework on my computer and felt someone behind me. I turned around to see a boy around ten years old with blonde hair playing with a small toy truck in the middle of the floor. I smiled; children were usually peaceful.
"Hi," I said in a sing-song voice.
The boy ignored me. I turned to save my homework and shut my laptop, then I turned back. Behind the boy was a man, but there wasn't another presence to go with him. He was an image, most likely projected by the boy. The man was tall and thick and reminded me vaguely of Quil. The biggest difference was the angry look on the man's face. I knew better than to ignore what the boy was showing me.
"Who is he?" I asked. Again, he ignored me. I sighed. "What's your name?"
I was getting a little annoyed and was about to tell him to leave me alone when he finally looked up at me. I gasped and sat back; his face was mutilated and half rotted away. Suffocating fear tightened my whole body, and I was caught in whatever this boy was about to show me.
I saw it all in my head. He was on vacation with his family. It was old; long ago. A low-budget hotel. The third floor. The family was laughing. He loved his mother but was annoyed with his older sister. His mother met a man. The man he'd shown me. The mother and daughter went shopping. The man showed up. He smelled like alcohol, and it made my head spin. He was angry that the woman wasn't there. He hit the boy. I cried out and fell to floor as if I was the one that had been hit. My face burned from the impact. The boy tried to run. The man chased him into another room. My heart raced; I felt the boy panicking as he tried to find a place to hide. He got under the bed. The man found him. I screamed with the boy as the man dragged him out and beat him again. The man threw him out of the window.
Suddenly the vision was gone. I lay gasping on the floor, my eyes closed tightly. I heard the boy whispering to me. He wanted me to help him find peace. His family thought it was an accident.
When the whispering was gone and I was alone again, I was finally able to open my eyes. My nose was bleeding and I'd probably have a black eye, but other than that, I was fine. I took several deep breaths and looked up at the ceiling to try to gather myself. The name of the hotel was still fresh in my mind. I turned to the computer to type it down, but it was already there. The name, the address, the phone number, and even the police department I would need to speak to about the decades-old case. It was all local. The boy's name was under it. Aaron Wilkins.
I went to the bathroom and cleaned up a little bit, then I called Jacob. I wasn't going anywhere without him and his team. I explained to him what happened and what we needed to do.
"Wait, Nessie, calm down. You were attacked?"
I swallowed. "Kind of. Not exactly. It was more—"
"I'll be there in a few minutes."
He hung up. I sighed, printed out the information I needed, then went to sit in the living room and wait for Jacob. He showed up a few minutes later. As I had expected, the first thing he did was inspect my face. The bruise was already spreading, and I'd decided I was lucky that my nose wasn't broken. Aaron's had been.
Jacob seemed like he was caught between being concerned about me and being fascinated by the idea that a spirit had done this to me.
"This just happens sometimes, Jake," I told him. "Remember when I told you I'm not like those 'channeling' mediums that supposedly only talk to gods and angels?" I gestured to my face. "This is what a strong spirit is capable of. Worse sometimes, but I don't think he was malicious or even mischievous. I invited him to talk to me, and this was how he chose to communicate. He's waited so long for someone to listen to him and take him seriously. I need to help him, or at least try."
Jacob nodded. "We'll help him. It's almost ten, though; I think we should start tomorrow."
I agreed with him. It wouldn't be possible to get a hold of anyone worthwhile tonight. "So I'll see you bright and early tomorrow morning."
"Are you going to be okay here by yourself?"
I raised my eyebrow. "Of course."
He hesitated. "You're sure? I mean, what if the boy comes back?"
"Then I get more information. It's not like you'd be able to protect me or that I even need that, Jake. I'll be just fine." A very small part of me really liked the idea of Jacob staying the night with me, but I decided it was the lonely, possibly horny side of me. It had nothing to do with spirits, ghosts, demons, or anything else related to why he was here in the first place.
Jacob looked down, and I thought he might have blushed. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I, uh . . . I'll see you tomorrow." He held out his hand awkwardly. I'd never seen him insecure. I wondered if he thought I just shot him down. I hoped not. Instead of shaking his hand, I stepped forward and hugged him.
"Thank you coming to check on me tonight. I really appreciate it."
He hugged me back tightly. "Anytime, Ness. Please don't hesitate to call me any time something like this happens, okay?"
I moved back and nodded. "I promise."
After Jacob left, I went back to my room to finish my homework for the night. Sitting on my chair was the truck Aaron had been playing with. I picked it up and set it on my desk.
"We'll prove that you were murdered. I promise. All we need is a little patience, okay? These things can take time."
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Talking to the hotel about an investigation in a particular room was easier than I thought it would have been. They had received several complaints over the years about faint screams being heard in the room, the window closing by itself, and children seeing a boy under the bed. Luckily for us, the hotel hadn't been renovated in over fifty years. Some of the furniture was new, but for the most part, it was the same as it had been sixty-five years ago. Claire was scared out of her mind going into the investigation after seeing what happened to me. Quil didn't say it, but I could see in his face that he thought I'd made up the story to cover for some other accident.
We had all of our equipment with us and set up by nine o'clock. I sat on the bed and stared at the window. I saw my reflection in the glass and trained my eyes on the bruise on the bridge of my nose.
"Aaron," I said after a few minutes. "I'm here now. Can you show me again what happened and anything that might help us prove that you were murdered?"
I waited for a few minutes. Nothing happened. I asked again for any kind of sign that he was there, but still got nothing in response. I sighed. "Please give me something, Aaron. We might not have a chance to come back."
"Claire, knock it off," Quil said.
Claire, sitting by Jacob on the chairs behind Quil, furrowed her brow. "Knock what off?" she asked.
"Stop hitting my legs."
I leaned forward to see Quil better. Sure enough, Aaron sat behind Quil and was hitting his legs with another toy truck.
"It's not Claire; Aaron's behind you."
Jacob snapped a few pictures while Claire turned on the tape recorder in hopes of getting an EVP. The video cameras were already recording.
Quil scoffed. "Whatever. Tell the brat to leave me alone."
Aaron glared up at Quil. The sensation of fear crushed my chest, and I gasped as I leaned back. I saw the man in my head again and realized why the boy didn't like Quil.
"He's not the same, Aaron. I promise; Quil is nice. We need him here with us." I took a deep breath as the pressure eased.
"He won't believe me," Aaron whispered.
"That doesn't matter. I believe you."
Aaron looked at Quil again for a moment before he dropped to his knees and crawled under the bed. "Come with me."
I shivered and looked over at Jacob. "He wants me to go under the bed."
Jacob stood up and came into the room with me. "Can't we just move the bed?"
Aaron's hand came out and grabbed my ankle. "No! Come here!"
I swallowed and shook my head.
"I don't like it," Jacob said.
Like it or not, it was what the boy wanted. I licked my lips and got up. "It could help."
"Two minutes, Ness. Then I'm moving the bed."
"Okay." I got down on the floor and scooted under the bed next to Aaron. I looked out to see Jacob's sneaker-clad feet pacing. "What do you need to show me?"
Aaron put his hand on mine. When physical contact was possible, it provided a much stronger connection. I was suddenly sucked into another time, another situation where I was hiding from something dangerous. The feet I saw were no longer Jacob's. They were cowboy boots. Black. Possibly snake skin. They came slowly into the room and paused. The tension all around me was nauseating. I vomited on the floor. The bed started to shake, but the vision didn't stop. The feet came toward me, then suddenly an angry, drunken face was peering at me. I screamed as the man reached out and grabbed me. My fingers clawed against the hardwood floor, trying to find anything to hold onto. Three of my fingernails broke, causing my fingers to bleed.
Then it was gone. A loud screech broke through everything, and Jake grabbed my arms to pull me up.
"Nessie! What happened, Nessie?"
I gasped in air and let myself relax against him. It took me a moment to calm down enough to look at him. "There has to be some kind of DNA evidence in the floor that shows Aaron was hiding. He threw up and broke his fingernails."
Jacob grabbed my hands and looked at them. He breathed a sigh of relief, and I realized he was checking to see if the same had happened to me. It hadn't. I hadn't thrown up, either.
"Window!" Aaron all but shouted. I cringed and looked over at the window. He was standing there and showed me how his arm and his leg had scraped the frame on his way out.
"They have to check the window, too. There'll be something there."
Jacob nodded. "Okay. So next we convince the police to open up a forty-year-old case." He still hadn't let go of me. I couldn't deny that it felt good to be so close to him. It could only last a few more minutes.
We finished up the investigation at midnight and went back to Jacob's pace to review the evidence. For all the contact I had with Aaron, the most we got was a possible shadow under the bed with me from the camera we'd positioned there and a fuzzy EVP of the words "Window" and "Come here." It wasn't anything extraordinary and probably wouldn't convince anyone. Quil had a hard time with what we got; he still didn't believe it, but he couldn't call me a fraud. At least not to my face. Instead, he blamed it all on the power of suggestion.
Getting a hold of the police and convincing them to re-open Aaron's case wasn't easy. I wouldn't give up, though. I would keep pushing until they did something. I begged them to at least send a DNA team and check those spots for blood and test for Aaron's.
In the meantime, I would just keep living my life. Aaron showed up a few times, and each time I promised him we'd get his side of the story told. He never showed me anything else, for which I was grateful.
I tried to contact Joseph again to give him an update. I knew he'd want to know about Aaron. I still couldn't reach him. I found him on Facebook, but none of the messages I tried to send went through. I sighed. It was hard to convince myself that there wasn't something out there blocking me from contacting him. It wouldn't have been the first time.
A/N: Thank you for reading! The story is half over! I have not finished the next chapter, so I'm not sure if it will be updated next week or not. It's very possible, but I won't promise.
For those of you reading Faith, Hope, and Love, I haven't abandoned the story. I've started chapter 12 and hope to have more time to write in the coming weeks. I don't have an ETA yet.
