Like an apparition / he had me crying out

     Samantha glanced between Perry and Gali worriedly, waiting for an explosion from Gali.  She suspected that Gali’s temper took a while to cool.  She realized Anthony was looking at her with a lifted eyebrow and half-smile, sharing her anxiety.  Mr. Rhodes was carefully looking at his sandwich as he munched on it.  In spite of their fear, Gali was perfectly reasonable, and seemed to hold no grudge against Perry for the argument they had witnessed on Halloween.  None of them knew just how valid their fear was, because neither Gali nor Perry had told them about the even more heated exchange that they had had in the cafeteria.
     “Well, I’ve been thinking that maybe we need to do a little more research on ghosts before we go looking for them again.  Or, maybe not even research, but just organizing the information we already have in a better way.  I feel like we’re missing something – something we should already be able to put together, based on what we know.”  Mr. Rhodes nodded, wiping some mayonnaise from the corner of his mouth.
     “I think that’s a wise decision.  We’ll have a safe night that we can use to analyze what’s already happened, and to figure out what to do if and when it happens again.”
     “Didn’t we already make a list of what we already know when we were at Mr. Rhodes’ house?  Maybe we should start there.”
     “Who has that list?” asked Perry.  “Someone took it, right?”
     “Yeah, I have it,” said Samantha.  “Should I read it right now?”
     “Go for it,” said Anthony.
     “Okay…Number One: You don’t have to see ghosts in order to feel their presence.  We know that because in the cemetery, Anthony didn’t see anything; he only felt it.  And in his attic, Mr. Rhodes didn’t see anything…”
     “Well, that’s not entirely true,” said Mr. Rhodes.  “I was seeing things, but I just wasn’t seeing reality.”
     “Were you aware that what you were seeing wasn’t reality?” asked Gali.  Mr. Rhodes took in a deep breath as he rested his chin on his hand, thinking deeply.
     “You know, I don’t really know whether or not I was conscious of the fact that what I was seeing was reality or not.  It felt so real – like, I could literally feel pain, and his entire thought process – I thought the thought process was my own.”
     “All right,” said Anthony, “but either way, neither of us saw a ghost.  Both of our perceptions of reality were affected through our senses, but we still didn’t see a ghost.  And all of us were with you in your attic – we didn’t see a ghost, either.”
     “Right,” said Perry.  “Number one stays as is – I think I remember establishing later on that these ghosts – or whatever they are – can affect your senses.  But we’re still right in saying that you don’t have to see the ghosts to feel their presence.  We’re leaving it open that it’s possible to see them – we just haven’t experienced that yet.”
     “Okay,” said Gali.  “What was Number Two?”
     “Number Two: There’s a strong possibility that the presence of ghosts are felt in areas associated with that ghost’s death.”
     “Right,” said Anthony.  “I was standing in a graveyard, and we’re assuming that the ghost – or whatever it was – that I felt was belonging to a body buried in a nearby grave.  And you,” he said, gesturing at Mr. Rhodes, “were in the place where the person – ghost – committed suicide.”
     “Yeah,” said Gali, “even if Anthony wasn’t close to the specific grave of the ghost possessing him, it’s still true that both places have a strong connection with death.”
     “I think Number Two is good.  For Number Three, we wrote: The visitation of the spectral presence ends with death, in the case of a bodily takeover, or with the physical contact of another human being.  Possibly, the contact must be made by a female….or by me.”  Sam set the paper down.  “I really don’t think it’s me, though.  I mean, it doesn’t make any sense that it would have to be my touch that ended what happened to Anthony.  I don’t know anything about ghosts.”
     “I don’t think it was you either,” said Gali, “but we only have two incidents so far.  In Mr. Rhodes’ case, the ghost transmitted its very specific memories to Mr. Rhodes, who continued to experience them until the ghost’s memories ended in death.  In Anthony’s case, I think it was just physical contact.”
     “Yeah, I think so too,” said Perry.  Anthony surprisingly had no opinion to contribute.
     “Okay.  Well, we already brushed over Number Four, but I’ll read it anyway: Ghosts can take over your body completely through distortion of the sensory perception.”
     “There has to be more that we can add,” said Gali.
     “We haven’t really talked about who was attacked,” said Mr. Rhodes.  “So far, we’ve only talked about the ghosts themselves.  Why me?  Why Anthony?  Why only one at a time?  Why at two different times of day?”
     “Well in your case, it seemed natural that out of the five us, you would be attacked,” said Perry to Mr. Rhodes.  “You live in the house, so it would make sense that the ghost would single you out, since you have a connection to the house it used to live in.  …He used to live in.  Whatever.”
     “You’re also both male,” said Samantha, “although I really don’t see what that has to do with it.”
     “Neither do I,” said Gali, “but sometimes it’s good to point out the obvious.  What else is similar between the two of them?”  Mr. Rhodes and Anthony exchanged awkward glances as the other three looked at them with scrutiny.
     “Yeah, that’s about all I’ve got,” said Perry.  “Unless we want to have embarrassingly awkward interrogations to find every little similarity between them – and actually, I would totally be okay with that!”
     “I really don’t know what else would be relevant,” said Gali.  “Do both of you believe in ghosts?”
     “Well, I do now,” said Mr. Rhodes.
     “Did you before what happened in your attic?” asked Gali.  Samantha glanced at Anthony and opened her mouth, ready to say Of course he did! and then stopped herself.
     “Well….no.” said Mr. Rhodes.  “I think we can all agree that what happened to Anthony was bizarre.  I certainly didn’t know what to make of it.  …No, I didn’t believe in ghosts before the incident in my attic.”
     “What about you?” asked Gali, turning to Anthony.
     “You know, if we’re going to go based on this, should we just go around the whole room?  It still doesn’t tell us much.  I don’t believe in ghosts.  Why Anthony, and not me?” asked Perry.
     “Maybe you’re next!” snapped Gali.  Perry smirked.
     “I don’t really know whether I believed in ghosts or not,” said Anthony, cutting in.  “I mean, I just never really thought about it.  Gali said she was starting this club, and I just came because I didn’t have anything better to do.  I definitely believe in them now.”
      “I believe in them,” said Sam.  “I don’t know how else to explain what’s happened.”
     “What about you?” asked Perry, pointing at Gali.  “Am I the sole skeptic in this Club?”
     “Don’t be stupid,” said Anthony.  “She started the club; of course she believes in ghosts.”  Gali sipped her cider.
     “No,” said Perry.  “There will be no dodging of my question.  Gali, do you believe in ghosts or not?”  She glared at him, but it didn’t seem like it was out of anger.
     “I need to believe in ghosts.  I have to believe in ghosts.  I have to find a way – find a way, figure out how they communicate with people.  How to seek them out.  I need to believe.”  Perry looked perplexed, but Gali set her mug down and stood up.  “So!  We really haven’t established anything new.  Maybe we should try to be better prepared next time we go ghost hunting.  We need to make sure everybody’s carrying some basic supplies.  We should also decide where else we can go ghost hunting around here.”  Perry was still looking at her, deep in thought, but not saying anything.
     “Well, there are a lot more buildings at High Glen that we can search, right?” asked Sam.  “We didn’t get very far in this one, and there are other ones, too.  You said this place used to be a monastery, right?”  Gali nodded.
     “Yes,” said Mr. Rhodes, “it did.  I don’t know if that makes it more likely that we’d encounter anything or not.  If nothing else, there have been people living in the dormitories for a long time.”
     “Let’s not search the dorms,” said Anthony.  “The last thing I need is reliving acute memories of death every time I lay myself down to sleep.”  Perry glanced at Mr. Rhodes.
     “Yeah, probably a good call,” he said.  “But the classrooms should be okay.  I tend to dwell on death a lot when I’m there anywhere.”
     “Is it sacrilegious to do a ghost hunt in the chapel?” asked Sam.  “The brothers who lived in the monastery used to have mass there, and the people who live in Finbell Winters still go to mass there.”
     “Who cares whether it’s sacrilegious?  Let’s do it,” said Perry.
     “If we can find a way to like, ghost whisper them away, that might even be a good thing,” said Anthony.  “It would really suck to get possessed in the middle of singing Hallelujah.”
     “There’s another cemetery we haven’t been to yet,” offered Mr. Rhodes.
     “There should be some abandoned houses, too,” said Gali.  “I bet we could find some.”
     “Isn’t that trespassing?” asked Samantha.
     “Hey, it’s not like anybody else is using the property,” said Perry.


Music Used Whilst Writing This Post: lots of music by Tool