The Present [2]

The Present [2]1

Without a moments hesitation. I slid into the driver seat. Slamming the car door behind me.2

I ignored the noise rising from my radio. 3

I knew it as the spirits way of communicating with humans, but I wasn’t buying it this time. If they wanted a heart to heart they would have to do it face to face. Spirit or no spirit. I was no messenger for the dead.4

I wiped the dust of my mirrors using the back of my sleeve until I could see a clear path behind me. I reversed the car doing a complete 180 turn, spinning enough dust to start a storm behind me.5

The voices were beginning to rise from the white noise. They started small - barely fragments of sentences I could not translate. Help me, and save me were amongst the most common fragments I could translate.6

I had heard those before. Right from the soulless mouth of an entity. They were merely invitations sent by the darkest spirits to make me believe that the dead needed moral support to cross over. When the truth was, and always had been - the vulnerable were their gateway onto this plane.7

The voices grew deeper, louder into guttural screams, and groans. Strangled between the lines of life, and the afterworld. A satanic message that always reminded me of the creepy songs that had hidden meanings when you played them backwards. It sent a shiver, like frosted fingers running up, and down my spine.8

I sped along the rocky road. My headlights illuminating, casting shadows of bright light upon the antiquated house as I drove up the driveway, and parked my car besides the mailbox.9

The Goosebumps on my skin crawled. I looked at my hand. The little bumps moved like termites to wood, eating at my flesh underneath my skin. I was not dealing with your every day ‘Casper the friendly ghost,’ These were the spirits of a past not forgotten. Spirits that would not rest until I had undergone the fundamental welcome party.10

I crunched onto the driveway. My shoes sinking into the gravel path. The wind had picked up. The night was silent. I brushed my loose strands of hair behind my ears, and turned to face the house.11

I could see sky over the roof. The shady clouds consuming the stars. Eating them one by one until all that was left to see was the glowing milky moon cast upon the jet black horizon.12

The curtains in my room remained still. They eyes that had invited me back into my past had disappeared into the loneliness of the empty house.13

I took a few steps forward. Listening to the gravel heaving under my weight. I stared at the house. Each window. Straining my eyes to see any signs of activity or shadows at all. 14

When I could see nothing I sighed heavily, and snuggled into the warmth of my jacket. In an attempt to forget what I had seen, and heard.15

Had I imagined those two unforgettable, piercing eyes?16

Could I, in some demented way conjured up the vision to relieve me of the tension the house brought me?17

Was I finally loosing it after all these years of nothing? No visions, No entities. No white-noise, and now this?18

I was getting to old for this superstitious shit. I leaned against the open car door. The radio has ceased to play music. The white noise nothing more than a faint hum, mingling with the soft rumble of the engine.19

I scanned the windows one last time. Rubbing the sleep deprivation from my eyes, that had caused them to water. I needed sleep, and one thing that was for certain was I wasn’t going to get any playing ghost busters in the middle of the night in an prehistoric family hand-me-down. 20

I closed my eyes.21

I let the warmth of the heater lull me into a false sense of comfort.22

The vibrations picked up again.23

I opened my eyes only to realize that this time the movement was coming from another source. I reached into my pocket, checking the time on my clock before I brought the phone to my ear. Closing my eyes again in an attempt to center myself.24

“Hell Ivory speaking. How can I help you?”25

The line was silent before my youngest siblings hesitant voice traveled through the static noise.26

“It’s called caller ID Ivory. Where are you?”27

I chucked, opening my eyes to stare at the house in front of me.28

“I’m at the carnival investigating the haunted house.”29

I listened to my brother breathing deeply into the phone. There was no laughter. He did not understand my joke. Then again, he was never one for comedy.30

“Be serious Ivory. It’s twelve-thirty in the morning. Where the hell are you?31

I stepped away from the car. Running my fingers through my ponytail, and inhaled deeply. I did not like the tone of his voice. It echoed paranoia. Worse than paranoia it echoed fear. Fear ranging on the highest scale. My stomach growled, a sickening awareness that I was not about to be congratulated on my inheritance.32

“I’m at the rents house. Why?”33

He seemed to relax with that knowledge. 34

“Nothing. It’s alright. I woke up to check the sensors, and they detected movement on the upper floor just now. Jesus Ivory. Give a poor man a heart attack.” he said laughing softly.35

I could not breath. My throat has ceased up. I chocked back the panic that was erupting inside of me. I wanted to scream, but all I could hear was the pounding of my own heart in my ears. 36

“Ivory, Ivory. Are you still there?” My brother asked. His voice high pitched, and petrified. 37

I took a minute to center myself. I dared not even look up at my bedroom window.38

“You put sensors in the house?” I barked.39

“They have been in their since Monday. It’s an old house Ivory, and they were installed to detect any crazies. There are a lot of messed up people who would like to do a lot of damage to this old house. I was being cautious.”40

Crazies - Right- The only crazies around here were the freak spirits that were occupying the residence.41

I was going to set my brother straight.42

“I haven’t been inside the house for a good twenty minutes. I’m standing on the driveway as we speak.”43

The line was silent. I could hear nothing, but dull static noise. Before the sound of shattering glass caused my heart to explode in my chest.