Page 19 of Ghost Girl

Gloria, on the other hand… her mumbles and grumbles remained for the rest of the drive to the end of the highway. We were starting the trip further south at La Pine and making our way slowly up towards Bend, but each of us was perfectly positioned in the van. Ashe was the camera girl, so her skills weren’t going to be utilised just yet, hence the reason for her place behind the wheel. Gloria needed to be front and centre to pick up on any psychic readings that came her way and note their locations, which put her beside Ashe. Mikey was our tech guy, so he was in the back with me, keeping track of our readings while I pointed the devices out the window.

We always made sure to turn off anything inside the vans that could give us false readings. Ashe and Gloria didn’t have a microwave or other such appliances that could mess with the data, and we kept the radio off so we wouldn’t pick up on any radio waves by accident. It was Mikey’s job to keep track of those readings and point out anything that could be considered abnormal.

Our team worked like a well-oiled machine, each of us already understanding what part to play and doing so without the need for direction. We had our routine down pat.

In one hand, I held my TriField Natural EM Meter to try to catch any electromagnetic fluctuations, while in the other hand, I held the TriField 2 Meter to compare against the other one for man-made electrical fields. Both devices were connected to Mikey’s laptop, where he was deciphering the readouts in real-time. So far, only the latter was lighting up, but that didn’t mean much. It was likely just fluctuations brought on by passing by someone’s home or car with the radio on.

‘Over there,’ Gloria suddenly said, pointing a shaky finger towards an offshoot road to the right. ‘Something is happening over there.’

Ashe and I shared a glance that was both filled with excitement and trepidation through the rearview mirror as she immediately turned the van down the side road Gloria had indicated. The psychic herself was in the midst of some sort of trance, the kind that only happened when an entity was actively attempting to communicate with her.

‘He’s screaming,’ she said, her voice low and trembling. ‘He’s still being attacked...’

‘Who?’ Ashe asked, keeping her tone gentle and quiet so as not to disturb Gloria in her element.

‘I don’t know. He’s begging for help, but his voice… It’s getting quieter, like he’s being pulled away.’

We rounded a copse of trees only for Ashe to stomp on the brakes for the second time today. I leaned my body to the centre at the same time as Mikey to see what was going on, but we ended up butting heads in the process. He pulled away, rubbing at his skull, but I stayed put to see what was going on. Police tape cordoned off the area, and a uniformed officer was approaching with a scowl dipping low over his eyes, his lips pursed in displeasure.

Ashe rolled down her window before he could knock on it.

‘What are you folks doing here?’ he asked.

‘We’re following a lead,’ Ashe told him, keeping things vague. Most people scoffed at us when we told them we were following a psychic’s directions, so we avoided it when we could. ‘We’re paranormal investigators, and we got a hit over this way and decided to follow.’

‘Ghost hunters, huh? Just fucking perfect. Who leaked about the crime scene?’ he grouched, demanding an answer that would likely put a damper on our investigation.

Mikey leaned forward to take over. ‘No one, officer. Like my friend here said, we were just following a lead. We got a spike in our EMF Meter down this way, so we decided to check it out.’

‘EMF Meter?’ the officer asked, looping his thumbs through his harness as he settled in for a longer conversation.

‘It detects potential paranormal activity through spikes in electromagnetic fields,’ Mikey explained.

His eyes flickered to the side of the van where our team’s logo was blatantly displayed. ‘I see. And you think that gives you the right to drive onto private property?’ The officer pointed to a sign that clearly stated that this land belonged to someone, but this was the first sign we’d seen so far to indicate ownership.

‘We would have turned around as soon as we saw the sign, sir,’ Ashe told him. ‘As you can imagine, we weren’t expecting to run into a crime scene. Can I ask what happened here?’

The officer sighed, seemingly put out, but surprised me by actually answering our question. ‘Another one of them drownin’s. Nothing to be concerned about. It’d be best if you folks went on your way and let us finish up in peace.’

‘Of course, officer. We apologise if we got in your way. We’ll leave.’

She rolled up the window as soon as he stepped back, but Gloria looked even more pale by the time we got back to the highway.

‘He’s gone.’

I frowned, confused. ‘Who’s gone?’

‘The spirit. The man who drowned. He was murdered, I know that much. His soul was restless, but he was still being hunted. Whatever we’re dealing with here, I think it’s somehow killing people’s physical bodies to gain access to their souls after death.’ She turned to Ashe with fear clear in her wide, bloodshot eyes.

‘Why would anything do that, though?’ I asked. ‘We’ve never come across a malignant entity that wanted to harm other spirits. It doesn’t make sense. What does it want with them?’

‘I don’t know,’ Gloria admitted gravely. ‘I don’t think we should continue this investigation. It’s not safe.’

‘Why don’t we head back to the campsite, and we can sleep on it before making any decisions?’ I offered, not wanting to shut things down before we could even get started.

‘I don’t know… I don’t feel comfortable continuing with this. If there’s an entity murdering living people, then we’re not safe.’

‘But if there is a malignant entity out there actively causing harm, don’t you think we have a responsibility to stop it?’ I argued.

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