If anyone remembers what those special flares they had were called, I
would love it if you told me. I'm gonna call them quantum flares right now,
it sounds cool.
Tormenting the Dead
By Goodie
Dennis Rafkin couldn't believe how much his life had changed in only a week. His normally pain-filled and secluded life had been thrown out the window by his latest, and hopefully last, employer, Cyrus Kriticos. A normal week for Dennis was once going to the home of some rich old bag who wanted to communicate with her long dead son or husband. He would humor them for a time, make a painful connection, tell them what they want to know, and then go home somewhat richer and avoid as many living, and dead, beings as possible.
But now he was spending his nights in dark, bone-chilling places, filled with spiritual energy, capturing ghosts. And his days were spent with the wonderful, magnificent, amazing, Jessica. She was perfect in all ways that mattered. She was smart, funny, pretty, and best of all Dennis could touch her. There was no pain with Jessica, only contentment. Dennis supposed that the two matters equalled each other out, good for bad. But he could always be happy knowing that eventually all the ghosts would be captured, and after that happened, Jessica would still be there.
"Do hurry up Dennis, I would like to capture all my ghosts before I myself end up in the grave." Cyrus called back from his position at the head of the group. Dennis had been lost in thought but quickly snapped out of it. Easily catching up, Dennis followed Cyrus into the high school auditorium; it was time to capture the third ghost.
They had already captured The First Born Child and The Torso. The latter of which still caused chills to creep down Dennis's spine when he thought about it. Two nights ago they had travelled to a dark, damp woods by a lakeside cabin. It had been an awful night just to be outside, and Dennis hated to think of what they had been after. The Torso had been a far less dangerous ghost than The First Born Child. Being unable to attack or even know what was going on around it. It had been Dennis's job to help locate the different pieces of the poor soul, which were scattered around the woods. It took three hours to find all of him. After the first hour or so it became obvious Jessica wouldn't be needed that night, and Dennis was anxious to allow her to leave the gory woods. They were sure to meet up later at Dennis's apartment. After the capture they had put the pieces in the same containment cube, allowing the ghost to rearrange himself if he wished.
The sight and memory of the ghost was still tormenting Dennis, it was easier than the first capture, but by far more gruesome and straining. No sooner would he find the spirit's leg than he was ordered to locate an arm or even the head. It had been a long night to say the least.
But it was over now. He had been granted a night away from ghost hunting while Cyrus tracked down his third ghost; The Bound Woman. She had shown up in at a small-town high school dance. Boys were ripped out of their dates' arms and hurled into walls, and thrown through tables. None of the girls were touched but all had quickly fled from the dance. Dennis didn't know how Cyrus could be so sure this was their ghost, but once again, he didn't ask any questions.
As he passed through the auditorium doors he spotted Jessica, speaking seriously with Cyrus. She turned and saw him and smiled. A smile which soon faded as Cyrus said something to her, and she became serious once more. Dennis walked over to them.
"So, what's the deal with this one?" Dennis asked. He tried hard not to think of the ghosts as people, or living things. It made the job easier. But knowing their backstory sometimes helped with the capturing; he had learned that the first night while capturing The First Born Child.
"The Bound Woman: Charlotte Blanche. Very pretty girl who loved getting the attention of the males around her. Loved it a little too much unfortunately. On the night of her prom her date found her in the arms of another man. He tied her up, killed her, and buried her in the school football field. She hasn't been much of a fan of men or school dances ever since." Cyrus explained, deepening his voice and taking far too much enjoyment out of relaying the tale of the soul's demise.
"Great. Well, I don't sense her in here. If she is still around she must be somewhere else in the school." Dennis said, but still scoured the auditorium while wearing the spectral glasses.
"She's still here, I can feel her. But she's not around her, she may be upstairs." Jessica offered, trying to help.
"We'll have to call her down here then. I don't feel like hauling the containment cubes up any flights of stairs." Cyrus said thoughtfully. His men were just finishing bringing in the cage and the playback machine into the auditorium. The room was rather large and had been cleared out for the dance, which hadn't been cleaned up yet. There were tables and chairs stacked up against the walls, there was a stage across from the main doors and from there several other doorways leading to different sections of the school.
But something was wrong, Dennis could feel it. His psychic powers laid mainly in sensing ghosts and wraiths, but every now and then he would catch a glimpse of the future, his future. And he knew what he saw there he could never change. He had seen his mother's death, himself in a car crash that had happened several years earlier, and he had even seen himself meeting Cyrus. Now, he was seeing something again. He closed his eyes as the pictures rolled by.
~|~ The auditorium, people screaming, men running, The Bound Woman chasing him, tables falling, blood. ~|~
The glimpses of the future never brought pain, but he moaned nonetheless.
"Dennis, what's wrong?" Jessica asked, but already knew he had felt something psychically.
"I don't know, it wasn't clear enough. I couldn't make anything out." Dennis nearly whispered, keeping his eyes closed as he played back the images in his mind.
"Is she coming?" Cyrus asked sternly. If the ghost were to appear suddenly they wouldn't be ready yet.
"What? No, I don't think so. Not yet." Dennis said, a little dazed.
"Good." Cyrus walked away to bark orders at his men, "Is the cube ready? Then what are you waiting for? Get it into position." He walked over to the playback machine and made a few adjustments to the incantations, making sure they said what he wanted. "That's better. Now, let's catch our ghost." He pressed play and the spells sounded, loud and clear in the echoes for all to hear.
Everyone waited tensely, they were beginning to become accustomed to the routine of ghost hunting and they all knew hell would strike soon. Dennis had the urge to take Jessica's hand and keep her close, he had a bad feeling about this ghost. Pain flared through his mind along with images of spiritual unrest. Without thinking he spun around and pointed to the ceiling.
"There!" Dennis yelled, catching Cyrus and the rest of the men's attention. The Bound Woman came floating through the ceiling before them all, floating eerily in the center of the gym. She was only eighteen in appearance, but her once beautiful brown hair was ragged and trapped around her neck by a coil of rope that had probably strangled her to death. She stood there, silent and solemn for a few moments, and then without warning, she attacked. Moving almost instantaneously she appeared behind a group of three men. She took one by the neck and threw him across the room, proving she was strong despite her timid size.
The other two would not be so easily taken though. They immediately brought forth two quantum flares that startled the ghost.
"Quick, get her into the cube." Cyrus yelled, from his position atop the ghostly prison. Maneuvering quickly the men tried to back her into the cage but she wouldn't be caught yet. The Bound Woman flew back, purposely knocking down the tables behind her and sending them crashing onto the two men. They tried to run but were trapped underneath.
Dennis stood frozen for a moment then clutched Jessica's hand and began to run, "We gotta get out of here." He knew they wouldn't possibly be safe trapped inside a building with a ghost. For a human there would be no escape *guess what that refers to*. The couple raced along the other side of the auditorium, intent on escape. Cyrus and his men could catch the ghost themselves. Just as they reached the containment cube disaster struck.
The Bound Woman had been watching Dennis and Jessica. She had seen Dennis pulling Jessica along roughly and had decided that he must have been hurting her, and needed to pay. She flew towards them. Suddenly, Jessica fell to the floor, losing Dennis's grip as she fell.
Dennis stopped and turned around, "Jessica, come on!" He looked up just in time to see The Bound Woman flying towards him. He ducked and ran, instincts taking over. But the ghost had other plans. She flew into the opposite pile of heavy, metal tables, and knocked them down, attempting to hit Dennis. The psychic was able to move out of the way for the most part, one of the tables grazed his back and knocked him down, but he avoided the avalanche.
As he gasped for breath he lit up a flare he found nearby, it was only after it was lit that he registered the scream. The loud, horrible, ear- piercing scream that shattered Dennis's heart and crushed his soul. There was only one, it was shrill and horrified, and had belonged to Jessica. She had been caught in the middle of the crash of tables. He could see her now, unmoving and lifeless under the twisted mass of metal and wood.
"No!"
Tears pricked at his eyes but his instinctual need for vengeance won out over sorrow. His eyes sought out the ghost he had been trying to capture, that he now only wanted to kill once more. It was flying away now, toward Cyrus and his men.
Dennis got to his feet and screamed, "You bitch!" Then he hurled the flare through the air with all his strength. The ghost turned and saw it. She vanished quickly to avoid the flame and reappeared several feet away ..... right inside the containment cube. The doors slammed with an air of finality, and The Bound Woman was added to Cyrus's collection.
"Well done, Dennis." Cyrus exclaimed cheerfully as he approached his psychic after taking in the sight of his captured speciman.
Dennis didn't even turn around. He was busy clearing away the tables that were trapping the one woman he could touch, the one woman he could love. He moved the last table and knelt beside his motionless, silent beauty. Her eyes were open but the life was gone and blood was pooling around her body. Tears streaked down Dennis's face, she was already gone, he could no longer sense her soul.
"What a shame." Cyrus said from behind, but clearly thought little about the girl, "I am sorry Dennis." It was false sentiment, but it didn't matter. Dennis didn't care about Cyrus.
For his part Kriticos was too happy with his latest prize to be upset. He turned around and strolled back to his men, leaving Dennis alone with his grief. So very alone.
Rafkin rocked himself back and forth, trying to keep his sanity. But with life being so insane it was very hard to do. As he sat by his dead love he thought, ghosts weren't people. They weren't human, never were. They only existed to cause pain, especially to him. And it had to stop. He would make it stop. His friend, Cyrus, he could make it stop. He had the equipment, the power, the motivation. Yes, together he and Cyrus would stop all of them, keep this from ever happening again. The ghosts had to pay, whether they were living in eternal damnation or not, they had to pay.
Dennis Rafkin had just received a new outlook on life. And it would not be a good omen for his future.
TBC
Hope you all liked, if any of my readers are still out there. Sorry it took so long, exams and stuff have been going on. Thanks for the fab reviews, you guys are great.
SLC PUNK! fan - sorry about the long wait
Seren - thank you for the most amazing and gratifying review.
HollywoodHuney - don't you just hate when they kill off the good characters? It's so frustrating. Like in Scream, all my fave peeps died.
Moony Smith - I felt sorry for Dennis too, but I think I just made it worse for him. My bad.
Hildebrant - I'm afraid The Angry Princess is the 6th ghost, hope you can wait that long.
Just so you know, I'm putting the captures in the order they're in in that girl's book in the movie. Forget her name, but The Withered Lover is next. Later, please review ^_^
Tormenting the Dead
By Goodie
Dennis Rafkin couldn't believe how much his life had changed in only a week. His normally pain-filled and secluded life had been thrown out the window by his latest, and hopefully last, employer, Cyrus Kriticos. A normal week for Dennis was once going to the home of some rich old bag who wanted to communicate with her long dead son or husband. He would humor them for a time, make a painful connection, tell them what they want to know, and then go home somewhat richer and avoid as many living, and dead, beings as possible.
But now he was spending his nights in dark, bone-chilling places, filled with spiritual energy, capturing ghosts. And his days were spent with the wonderful, magnificent, amazing, Jessica. She was perfect in all ways that mattered. She was smart, funny, pretty, and best of all Dennis could touch her. There was no pain with Jessica, only contentment. Dennis supposed that the two matters equalled each other out, good for bad. But he could always be happy knowing that eventually all the ghosts would be captured, and after that happened, Jessica would still be there.
"Do hurry up Dennis, I would like to capture all my ghosts before I myself end up in the grave." Cyrus called back from his position at the head of the group. Dennis had been lost in thought but quickly snapped out of it. Easily catching up, Dennis followed Cyrus into the high school auditorium; it was time to capture the third ghost.
They had already captured The First Born Child and The Torso. The latter of which still caused chills to creep down Dennis's spine when he thought about it. Two nights ago they had travelled to a dark, damp woods by a lakeside cabin. It had been an awful night just to be outside, and Dennis hated to think of what they had been after. The Torso had been a far less dangerous ghost than The First Born Child. Being unable to attack or even know what was going on around it. It had been Dennis's job to help locate the different pieces of the poor soul, which were scattered around the woods. It took three hours to find all of him. After the first hour or so it became obvious Jessica wouldn't be needed that night, and Dennis was anxious to allow her to leave the gory woods. They were sure to meet up later at Dennis's apartment. After the capture they had put the pieces in the same containment cube, allowing the ghost to rearrange himself if he wished.
The sight and memory of the ghost was still tormenting Dennis, it was easier than the first capture, but by far more gruesome and straining. No sooner would he find the spirit's leg than he was ordered to locate an arm or even the head. It had been a long night to say the least.
But it was over now. He had been granted a night away from ghost hunting while Cyrus tracked down his third ghost; The Bound Woman. She had shown up in at a small-town high school dance. Boys were ripped out of their dates' arms and hurled into walls, and thrown through tables. None of the girls were touched but all had quickly fled from the dance. Dennis didn't know how Cyrus could be so sure this was their ghost, but once again, he didn't ask any questions.
As he passed through the auditorium doors he spotted Jessica, speaking seriously with Cyrus. She turned and saw him and smiled. A smile which soon faded as Cyrus said something to her, and she became serious once more. Dennis walked over to them.
"So, what's the deal with this one?" Dennis asked. He tried hard not to think of the ghosts as people, or living things. It made the job easier. But knowing their backstory sometimes helped with the capturing; he had learned that the first night while capturing The First Born Child.
"The Bound Woman: Charlotte Blanche. Very pretty girl who loved getting the attention of the males around her. Loved it a little too much unfortunately. On the night of her prom her date found her in the arms of another man. He tied her up, killed her, and buried her in the school football field. She hasn't been much of a fan of men or school dances ever since." Cyrus explained, deepening his voice and taking far too much enjoyment out of relaying the tale of the soul's demise.
"Great. Well, I don't sense her in here. If she is still around she must be somewhere else in the school." Dennis said, but still scoured the auditorium while wearing the spectral glasses.
"She's still here, I can feel her. But she's not around her, she may be upstairs." Jessica offered, trying to help.
"We'll have to call her down here then. I don't feel like hauling the containment cubes up any flights of stairs." Cyrus said thoughtfully. His men were just finishing bringing in the cage and the playback machine into the auditorium. The room was rather large and had been cleared out for the dance, which hadn't been cleaned up yet. There were tables and chairs stacked up against the walls, there was a stage across from the main doors and from there several other doorways leading to different sections of the school.
But something was wrong, Dennis could feel it. His psychic powers laid mainly in sensing ghosts and wraiths, but every now and then he would catch a glimpse of the future, his future. And he knew what he saw there he could never change. He had seen his mother's death, himself in a car crash that had happened several years earlier, and he had even seen himself meeting Cyrus. Now, he was seeing something again. He closed his eyes as the pictures rolled by.
~|~ The auditorium, people screaming, men running, The Bound Woman chasing him, tables falling, blood. ~|~
The glimpses of the future never brought pain, but he moaned nonetheless.
"Dennis, what's wrong?" Jessica asked, but already knew he had felt something psychically.
"I don't know, it wasn't clear enough. I couldn't make anything out." Dennis nearly whispered, keeping his eyes closed as he played back the images in his mind.
"Is she coming?" Cyrus asked sternly. If the ghost were to appear suddenly they wouldn't be ready yet.
"What? No, I don't think so. Not yet." Dennis said, a little dazed.
"Good." Cyrus walked away to bark orders at his men, "Is the cube ready? Then what are you waiting for? Get it into position." He walked over to the playback machine and made a few adjustments to the incantations, making sure they said what he wanted. "That's better. Now, let's catch our ghost." He pressed play and the spells sounded, loud and clear in the echoes for all to hear.
Everyone waited tensely, they were beginning to become accustomed to the routine of ghost hunting and they all knew hell would strike soon. Dennis had the urge to take Jessica's hand and keep her close, he had a bad feeling about this ghost. Pain flared through his mind along with images of spiritual unrest. Without thinking he spun around and pointed to the ceiling.
"There!" Dennis yelled, catching Cyrus and the rest of the men's attention. The Bound Woman came floating through the ceiling before them all, floating eerily in the center of the gym. She was only eighteen in appearance, but her once beautiful brown hair was ragged and trapped around her neck by a coil of rope that had probably strangled her to death. She stood there, silent and solemn for a few moments, and then without warning, she attacked. Moving almost instantaneously she appeared behind a group of three men. She took one by the neck and threw him across the room, proving she was strong despite her timid size.
The other two would not be so easily taken though. They immediately brought forth two quantum flares that startled the ghost.
"Quick, get her into the cube." Cyrus yelled, from his position atop the ghostly prison. Maneuvering quickly the men tried to back her into the cage but she wouldn't be caught yet. The Bound Woman flew back, purposely knocking down the tables behind her and sending them crashing onto the two men. They tried to run but were trapped underneath.
Dennis stood frozen for a moment then clutched Jessica's hand and began to run, "We gotta get out of here." He knew they wouldn't possibly be safe trapped inside a building with a ghost. For a human there would be no escape *guess what that refers to*. The couple raced along the other side of the auditorium, intent on escape. Cyrus and his men could catch the ghost themselves. Just as they reached the containment cube disaster struck.
The Bound Woman had been watching Dennis and Jessica. She had seen Dennis pulling Jessica along roughly and had decided that he must have been hurting her, and needed to pay. She flew towards them. Suddenly, Jessica fell to the floor, losing Dennis's grip as she fell.
Dennis stopped and turned around, "Jessica, come on!" He looked up just in time to see The Bound Woman flying towards him. He ducked and ran, instincts taking over. But the ghost had other plans. She flew into the opposite pile of heavy, metal tables, and knocked them down, attempting to hit Dennis. The psychic was able to move out of the way for the most part, one of the tables grazed his back and knocked him down, but he avoided the avalanche.
As he gasped for breath he lit up a flare he found nearby, it was only after it was lit that he registered the scream. The loud, horrible, ear- piercing scream that shattered Dennis's heart and crushed his soul. There was only one, it was shrill and horrified, and had belonged to Jessica. She had been caught in the middle of the crash of tables. He could see her now, unmoving and lifeless under the twisted mass of metal and wood.
"No!"
Tears pricked at his eyes but his instinctual need for vengeance won out over sorrow. His eyes sought out the ghost he had been trying to capture, that he now only wanted to kill once more. It was flying away now, toward Cyrus and his men.
Dennis got to his feet and screamed, "You bitch!" Then he hurled the flare through the air with all his strength. The ghost turned and saw it. She vanished quickly to avoid the flame and reappeared several feet away ..... right inside the containment cube. The doors slammed with an air of finality, and The Bound Woman was added to Cyrus's collection.
"Well done, Dennis." Cyrus exclaimed cheerfully as he approached his psychic after taking in the sight of his captured speciman.
Dennis didn't even turn around. He was busy clearing away the tables that were trapping the one woman he could touch, the one woman he could love. He moved the last table and knelt beside his motionless, silent beauty. Her eyes were open but the life was gone and blood was pooling around her body. Tears streaked down Dennis's face, she was already gone, he could no longer sense her soul.
"What a shame." Cyrus said from behind, but clearly thought little about the girl, "I am sorry Dennis." It was false sentiment, but it didn't matter. Dennis didn't care about Cyrus.
For his part Kriticos was too happy with his latest prize to be upset. He turned around and strolled back to his men, leaving Dennis alone with his grief. So very alone.
Rafkin rocked himself back and forth, trying to keep his sanity. But with life being so insane it was very hard to do. As he sat by his dead love he thought, ghosts weren't people. They weren't human, never were. They only existed to cause pain, especially to him. And it had to stop. He would make it stop. His friend, Cyrus, he could make it stop. He had the equipment, the power, the motivation. Yes, together he and Cyrus would stop all of them, keep this from ever happening again. The ghosts had to pay, whether they were living in eternal damnation or not, they had to pay.
Dennis Rafkin had just received a new outlook on life. And it would not be a good omen for his future.
TBC
Hope you all liked, if any of my readers are still out there. Sorry it took so long, exams and stuff have been going on. Thanks for the fab reviews, you guys are great.
SLC PUNK! fan - sorry about the long wait
Seren - thank you for the most amazing and gratifying review.
HollywoodHuney - don't you just hate when they kill off the good characters? It's so frustrating. Like in Scream, all my fave peeps died.
Moony Smith - I felt sorry for Dennis too, but I think I just made it worse for him. My bad.
Hildebrant - I'm afraid The Angry Princess is the 6th ghost, hope you can wait that long.
Just so you know, I'm putting the captures in the order they're in in that girl's book in the movie. Forget her name, but The Withered Lover is next. Later, please review ^_^