Angry Spirit - Chapter Four

Nathan's first meeting with Professor Max Deacon had been arranged at the City University. He had been expecting to find some grey-haired, aging man, and was pleasantly relieved to discover a man in his early forties, though his fashion sense appeared somewhat more youthful. His demeanor was sociable and 'down to earth, again in stark contrast to the image of a starched collared academic, Nathan had built up in his mind.

It soon became obvious that Miranda's praise for him was well justified. The lab he occupied in the big Victorian building was furbished with a wide selection of strange ancient artifacts and an impressive range of what appeared, at least to the layman, to be state-of-the-art, modern electrical gadgetry. All of which the Professor took great pains in explaining.

Following another two visits to the University, whereupon Nathan was vigorously questioned by the Professor and two of his students, the attention finally focused on Nathan's house. Within the first day, the entire interior of the house was transformed by a myriad of flashing, beeping and scanning equipment. Not a single room was left untouched by this electronic invasion. It could not be said that Professor Deacon and his team were not prepared for any eventuality, a fact that reassured Nathan greatly. However, the request for Janice to return home, only filled Nathan with dread and foreboding.

"Hi love. It's good to have you home," Nathan greeted, as Janice emerged from her car on the drive. "I've missed you."

"I've missed you too darling," she replied, kissing him warmly and holding him tight. "I wish I could say I'm glad to be home.

"I know love." Nathan could see the worry on his wife's face as she stared anxiously at the house. A mixed look of longing and anxiousness wrinkled her face. "I know how you feel. It'll soon be back to normal." His words fell short of convincing, even he knew, that if the Professor and his team were successful and whatever had invaded their home was banished to wherever it belonged, they would always be haunted by the memories. The fear that whatever it was might one day return. Both Nathan and Janice were only too aware that normality was a luxurious state of affairs that would never grace that house again.

"I'll get your things out of the boot then we'll go in and have a nice cuppa."

Janice smiled at her husbands naive attempt at calmness. No matter what the severity of the situation, in Nathan's eyes, a 'nice cuppa' would solve everything.

Each step towards the door, increased the wave of panic inside Janice. The memories of her experience on the landing were still fresh and painful in her mind.

When her fingers wrapped around the cold, brass of the door handle, Janice froze. Her outrageous sense of fear, immobilized every limb. A battle raged within her, fear and self survival winning, convincingly over the need to open the door and laugh in the face of whatever ordeal lay beyond.

Nathan held back, holding station several feet behind, hoping his presence would reassure her, though discreetly allowing enough distance to avoid making her feel intimidated to go further than she felt she could.

After taking a deep breath and lifting her head, signifying a sudden surge of steely determination Janice pushed open the door and progressed with a hurried step over the threshold into the hallway. Once inside the familiar surroundings seemed to give her a strange comfort, the initial nervous tension began to ebb away.

"I put the kettle on shall I?" she called back to Nathan, who was still standing flanked by his wife's suitcases.

"Yes love. Good idea," he smiled back in reply. "I take your cases up to the bedroom. Watch for all the .....!"

"Arghhhh! Who the hell left all these wires lying around?" Came Janice's cry from the kitchen.

...Wires! He added, flinching nervously, expecting another tyrad of curses to reverberated from within the house.

Leaving the suitcases by the doorway, Nathan went slowly towards the kitchen door, to check on his wife's angry status. "Are you alright, love?"

"Yes!" she snapped, furiously. "Which bloody idiot left that lot across the doorway?"

"Err... Professor Deacon set up his equipment early, for tonight. Said it would save valuable time later."

"It won't save time if we're in accident and emergency with broken legs after tripping over his bloody wires, will it?"

"No dear, it won't."

"Are you patronizing me, Nathan Harrison?"

"No dear, I wouldn't dare."

Before the tea cups were empty, Professor Deacon had arrived back with his two assistants, Gregg and Sue. All three seemed keen to get started, though from the beginning it was obvious that the two younger members of the team hung on their superiors every word, equally obvious was the amount of respect they both displayed towards Deacon.

"I've invited Miranda and Alice to join us tonight, if that's right, Mr. Harrison.

"Sure ... you're the boss, Professor. Nathan was a little surprised to hear that a man who clearly had great faith in his scientific investigations, not to mention a seemingly endless supply of electronic assistance would resort to medium.

When the medium and her companion arrived, no time was wasted in beginning the séance in the bedroom again. This time the proceedings would be closely monitored by Gregg and Sue from the well equipped base room they had set in the adjoining room.

"Ok. Is everyone ready?" Deacon asked.

Taking the silence as their unanimous affirmative answer, the proceedings were begun. The candle in the center of the table was lit, and Gregg turned off the electric light at the switch by the door as he left to join Sue at the monitors in the next room.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this?" The professor looked at Janice, noting the understandable signs of apprehension etched deep in her face. "It's not to late, if you don't feel ready, Mrs. Harrison."

"No! Let's get on with it. I want this thing out of my house." She replied her resolve was absolute, however her expression and tone remained unconvincing. "I want my life back!"

"Very well ... When you're ready Miranda."

Silence accompanied the eerie darkness in the room. Only the youthful voice of the medium rang out as she began chanting a short prayer of protection;

Silence remained absolute. "Are there any spirit people among us in this room. If so come towards us, come towards our energy and show us a sign that you wish to communicate."

Nathan could clearly feel his wife's hand starting to shake and moisten, as she cast a fearful gaze around the room. He gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"Come to us! Use our energy, let us help you," Miranda called out into the dark silence.

"Call out for Joshua!" Deacon suggested.

"Are you here, Joshua." Miranda began taunting, her voice seemed tinged with mocking malice. "Come on, Joshua, come forward, or is the great master too afraid?"

Before the séance the professor had set up a wireless earpiece, through which he could communicate with the base room next door. Fortunately his foresight began to pay dividends. Gregg's voice crackled the message into his ear. "Something's happening professor. The temperature is dropping."

With a discreet glance Deacon assessed the level of stress, evident on the sitters faces. His initial concern was for Janice. She was clearly bordering on the razor edge of terror.

"Ok, Janice?" he whispered, creasing his mouth into what he hoped would be a comforting and reassuring smile.

Her reply was a muted nod of her head, and a vain attempt to force a smile in return.

"Bring him closer Miranda,"

The medium looked at her sitters. She was only too aware of what could follow if she continued to follow Deacon's bidding and taunt the angry spirit of Joshua. She doubted the others, more specifically, Janice was prepared for such an event.

"Are you sure, Professor?"

With uncomfortable reluctance, Miranda began taunting the spirit with relentless insults and challenges;

"Come on Joshua ... you don't seem that powerful to me," she called. "Are you only capable of persecuting the poor souls who cower at your feet? Are you afraid that our combined energy is too strong for you?

Suddenly the room filled with a mighty blast of wind. The heavy curtains, drawn over the window, bellowed almost horizontally into the room. A small pile of magazines by the bed launched into the air, bombarding the sitters with their rustling pages.

"Oh come on ... is that the best you can do?" Miranda, mocked.

Above the noise, Deacon could just make out Gregg's excited voice in his ear-piece;

"Be careful Professor, the readings are off the scale. The magnetic field monitor is registering a massive influx of energy.

"Is that you Joshua Edwards?" Deacon called out. His voice seemed strangely calm, showing no sign of fear or surprise, a clear indication that he had encountered similar experiences in the past and would not be intimidated by such displays. "Do you wish to harm us?" he continued.

Deacon's answer came in the form of a well aimed book, hard bound and many pages thick which struck him squarely and painfully about the head.

Janice screamed out, her horror no more containable. Instinctively she tried to pull her hands from the grasp of her neighboring sitters. Nathan and the professor held fast, preventing her from breaking the circle.

For Nathan the images from the first séance were still seared indelibly into his memory, The fact that his left hand was firmly grasping that of the ever silent Alice. The medium's revelation that her young assistant was the channel to communicate with the visiting spirits only added to his increasing uneasiness. With fearful reluctance he paid the young girl a sideways glance, inwardly praying that her face would not be furnished with the terrifying expression he had previously witnessed on the first séance.

However, as was the case so often recently, his prayers fell on deaf ears. Alice's unseeing eyes stared back at him, instantly freezing his senses, her complexion ashen white; her mouth hung, neither open nor closed. Just stone-like lips, poised to emit whatever foul words and stench were welling within.

The sound of his pounding heart, thumped loud and heavy in his ears. Sweat began to wash down his face in icy waves. As the realization of his predicament increased, Nathan fought the urge to flee, but the grip that held him captive was not that of Alice, not the delicate fingers of a fragile twenty two year old woman. It was the inescapable will of Joshua Edwards, about to wreak his angry havoc on those who dared to challenge his cruel dominance.