ANGRY SPIRIT PART 2 Chapter Six

The painful memories of Nathan's terrible nightmare flooded back. Each one tore at his nerves with as much savagery as when he experienced it on that fateful night a year ago. Very quickly, Nathan realized that by reliving his terrifying visit to the higher dimension with his analytical powers intact, and viewing all the horrors in a fully conscious state, his plight was compounded by the constant urge to block out the images. His sense of logic and reasoning proving an insurmountable barrier to what his subconscious had hidden away for so long.
"I can't do this!" he exclaimed.
"You must Nathan." Miranda urged.
"Why must I? You know where you held the séance in Suffolk. Why can't we just go there and hold another séance?"

"If only it were that simple. Yes we could go straight to the same place and hold another séance. But, when Joshua Edwards passed from that spot in Suffolk, he opened a portal to the higher dimension."
"So what's the problem? Why are you putting me through this hell?"
"Because, when he emerged in the other dimension, the damn portal closed behind him."
Nathan fell silent. His attention clearly diverted from the images that plagued him. Gradually, at first, the watery glaze in his eyes cleared as they scanned left then right, and then settled in a fixed glare to an area of the dimly lit room just behind and to the right of Miranda.

"Nathan? What is it?"
He issued no reply, only a brief squint indicated that something more material than memories had ventured into his view. Miranda turned slowly, an overwhelming sense of dread teasing her nerves, causing an icy wave of tingling to travel the length of her spine.
"What's wrong, Nathan? What can you see?"
"Over there! In the corner!" he pointed, nervously towards the corner to the left of the door leading into the hallway.
"I can't see anything. I should never have expected you to relive your terrible night mare. I should have known it would affect you badly ... Oh, I'm so sorry Nathan. Please forgive me. Just try to relax a while. The images will stop soon. It's only your imagination playing tricks on you."

"Will you stop bloody patronizing me, like I'm some kind of kid?" His words were harsh and unguarded. "I know what I saw and it was not my imagination!"
"Okay, okay! I'm sorry, but you still need to calm down. You're going to give yourself a heart attack. You've just been through a terrible ordeal, you're weak and fragile."
"For Christ's sake, Miranda. Will you stop treating me like a bloody idiot!"
Before Miranda could offer a second apology, Nathan lunged forward, taking her hand in a vice-like grip. She screamed hysterically, throwing herself instinctively into his arms.
"Is that my bloody imagination?"
Slowly, Miranda turned her head to follower Nathan's gaze. She gasped in disbelief at what she saw;

In the corner where Nathan had first indicated was a black misty form. It appeared translucent and shapeless, of similar proportions to a very tall man.
Miranda buried her head into Nathan's chest. Although rendered rigid with numbing fear she struggled against the strange compulsion to turn and keep her unblinking stare fixed hard and true on the mysterious entity. Noting that its misty base seemed to hover a good six inches above the floor, and stretched to a similar distance from the ceiling.
The two stunned witnesses sat down in a stunned silence, both aware of a sense of overwhelming evil in the room, yet helpless to attempt an escape.

Gradually the black mist began slowly swirling, like a fog being teased in a gentle breeze. Folding in on itself and rolling in a constant circular motion, yet never shifting from its location in the corner of the room.
"My God, Miranda, what the hell is it?! Nathan whispered his hardly audible words shattered with an all-consuming fear.
"I'm not sure." Came a similarly tempered reply. "One thing I do know ... It's evil!"
More through instinct than any mediumistic knowledge she may possess, Miranda began to recite the Lord's Prayer. "Join in with me Nathan. Say the prayer with me."

Although Nathan had never favored been inclined to lean towards religious beliefs or divine intervention to influence his allotted path through life, right now he was at a loss to come up with an alternative strategy and quickly did as asked ... "Give us this day, our daily ..."

"ARRGGGGHHH!" Miranda screamed. Gone were the whispering tones. Ear shattering, and ultra pitched screeches propelled from her gaping mouth when a face thrust forward towards them. The face of a skeletal old withered man, with a deathly gray pallor to its complexion.
It stopped no more than a few terrifying inches away from their faces. A foul stench emitting from its dry, gapping dark cavern of a mouth hit them with sickening strength, making their stomachs wretch.
"STOP!" Roared a deep guttural voice from within the black form. "You are mine! No one can help you!"

As quick as it had appeared the evil head retreated back into the black evil host, before swirling in a mad circle, sending unsecured objects into a crazy orbit about the room. Some smashing when they collided with the walls, others striking the helpless witnesses with painful blows and finally coming to rest in scattered abandonment on the floor.
Dumb-struck and shattered by the ordeal, Nathan and Miranda remained frozen, each set rigid by fear as the mist dissolved and vanished.
"I don't care where we go, but I'm not spending another night in this house," Nathan exclaimed. "The damn thing is trying to kill us."

After rising awkwardly to her feet, Miranda began a slow tour of the room, surveying the carnage that had once again rained down on them, before answering;
"No. Nathan. That's one thing I am certain of," she began, "The last thing Joshua Edwards wants is to kill us. While we're alive he's able to vamp our life force from us. By killing us he would be depriving himself of the very energy he craves from us."
"Am I supposed to find that reassuring?" Nathan replied with intended sarcasm.
"That could be our only saving grace."
"Now why can't I have your optimism?" he again quipped sarcastically. "Here am I worrying unduly about being killed by some indescribable evil force from another dimension and all I have to bother about is spending the rest of my existence on whichever dimension fate deems fit, insane but thankfully alive. Well thank the Lord for small mercies!"

"Have you finished?" Miranda snapped back angrily. "Throwing insults at me might make you feel better now, but it's hardly going to save us in the long run, is it?"
Before leaving the room, Nathan turned back to survey the room, that bore a multitude of similarities to a battle ground. Should he have needed it, it provided a stark realization; the time to move to somewhere safer was well over-due. Somewhere where he could live, albeit for a painfully short time to regroup his thoughts and begin to reestablish some sense of sanity back into the ragged remnants of his shattered existence.
"Where are you going?" Miranda asked.
"I'm going to pack a few things, and then, to be honest I'm not sure yet," Nathan began. His reply was vague and unsure, although he was absolutely certain that come what may he was not staying there another minute longer than was necessary. For the time being whatever was behind all the constant chaos had, for the time being won. He was running. As to where, he didn't care, as for who he ran with, he cared even less.

"Running away is not going to solve anything," Miranda said, her words, clearly infuriated Nathan even more, serving only to strengthen his resolve.
"Look! If you want to stay here and face whatever is causing all this ... then be my guest, and good luck to you, God knows, you'll need it. As for me ... I know my limits and how much I can take. To be honest, Miranda, I passed those limits a long time ago."
On that, Nathan turned and left the young medium amid the carnage.
When he re-entered the room a few minutes later, Miranda had already formulated a plan of action which she was eager to share with him.

"Why don't we stop at my place?" She suggested, with cheerful simplicity. "That way, you can get away from here and we can plan what we intend to do when we get to the house in Suffolk."
"You never give up, do you? All this lot is like water off a ducks back to you! Isn't it?"
"Then you come up with a better option!" she snapped back in quick defense.
As they fell into the all too familiar pattern of exchanging shallow words and throwing ill-thought-out insults at each other, both became aware of an almost inevitable sense of foreboding. The air in the room suddenly stale and stifling, akin to the heavy atmosphere preceding a violent thunder-storm. A faint, yet over powering high-pitched whine vibrated incessantly in their ears.

Within seconds, Nathan and Miranda were fighting the sudden disabilitating effects that had besieged them once again. Both feeling a compulsion to run, but both incapable of doing so.
Should they have regained their ability to flee the room, it would have sadly proven useless, when the door slammed shut.
Just like during the previous attack, the room once again filled with the sickening, foul odor. However, despite being held captive by an unseen force, no other phenomena materialized.

"He's playing with us again!" Nathan announced, furiously.
"That's all he can do here." Miranda gave a mocking laugh as she spoke. "You can only make pathetic threatening gestures can't you?"
"That's right, you rile him up. Let's all have a fun party," Nathan's tone was scathing. He made no attempt to camouflage his sarcasm obviously aimed at his medium companion. "He may not be able to hurt you, but can I remind you he's already tried using me as pen holder once!"

"No Nathan, he can't exercise his power over us here. He needs the portal before he can use his full power on us. This is just to scare us."
"Well, I don't mind admitting from where I'm standing, it's working. He sure as hell is scaring me!"
"This is just to let us know that he is aware of what we are planning."
"And I suppose you're going to tell me that doesn't bother you at all?"
"Oh, it bothers me alright." Miranda began. "But, be assured Joshua Edwards, we will find the portal, and we will confront you on your own dimension, where you will see just how much you have underestimated the power of our combined life force."