The Presence

[Lady Night Owl]

NOTE TO READERS:

 

IT'S NOT PUBLISHED IN THE TECHNICAL SENSE, BUT I CAN PROVE THAT I WROTE IT NOT THAT YOU'D WANT TO STEAL IT ANYWAY, HEHE.

This is only the beginning and may be modified from the original version - I'm trying to keep it PG13 for this forum.

If you like it (or don't) please reply to the thread

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Ríona O'Morrigan gazed absently into her vanity mirror, running the brush through her long red hair. She focused on keeping her mind carefully blank, but her thoughts kept straying to some strange things that she saw and heard in the spooky old house that she inherited recently from her grandmother. Even now, chills raced up and down her spine as she remembered the footsteps that would start at the top of the second floor stairs and retreat down the long hallway. If she was not alone, it might not scare her so much. But, she was the only one living in the house and she had not invited anyone over. She had no siblings, her parents had died instantly in a car wreck when she was two and she was single.

 

She could also hear and see large pieces of furniture moving, seemingly of their own accord. If it happened in the middle of the night, she found herself hiding under the covers like a frightened child, as if they were enough protection from any supernatural being. She knew by now that the house was full of spirits, no matter how much she tried to deny it to herself. Some were benevolent and sometimes helpful and others not so much. She had no idea how horrifying the others could be.

 

Ríona put the brush down to hug herself in an attempt to ward off a fresh chill. Was that an icy finger that just touched her neck or a figment of her imagination? She would not be surprised if her mind was beginning to play tricks on her. She was almost afraid to look in the mirror to see what was behind her, but she braced herself and peeked anyway. Nothing. At least, there was nothing that she could see. But, she could hear...Oh God, was that someone breathing?

 

Taking a deep breath, she cleared her throat and although she felt foolish, she called out, "who's there?" This was the first time she ever addressed the presence.

 

No answer. She swallowed hard and tried again with the same result.

 

Ríona sighed and chuckled nervously. Her laugh echoed and she clapped a hand over her mouth. She turned around slowly and came face to face with the most frightening thing that she had ever seen in her thirty years. An apparition stood behind her, with eyes like polished onyx and a mouth full of razor sharp teeth. Perhaps it was a demon, but she couldn't be sure.

 

It gave her an impish smile that quickly faded to a pout and shouted, "you forgot to say 'knock-knock'!"

 

She screamed as it reached clawed hands toward her throat, but the apparition faded away just before it made contact with her flesh. Her breath was whistling through her lungs as she ran from her room and outside the house. The snow on the walkway quickly reminded her that she had forgotten her slippers, but all she cared about was getting as far away from the house as possible. She could not spend another night in it. Definitely not if she was to be alone. Maybe never.

 

Another apparition appeared in her path and stopped her in her tracks. This one just looked like a transparent person wearing a style of dress that was as dead as the earthly shell it had left behind. "Where do you think you're going? Come now child, you'll catch your death out here."

 

Ríona stood still, her green eyes as wide as saucers. She squeezed them shut. "Surely I'll have a heart-attack if I go back in there...please just go away, leave me alone. I'll go away, you can have the house, just leave me be! Why are you doing this?"

 

"We can't go away or leave you alone. Don't you know? You are the only one who has ever been able to see us. We thought your grandmother might have the Gift, but it is you." The spirit looked up at the house and spoke softly, "we are not at peace Ríona. Some of us may never be able to leave unless they are exorcised. But you can free the other trapped souls." It seemed that the ghost thought for a moment before speaking again, "Only I have been able to make it this far. I still cannot leave the grounds. The others cannot leave the house."

 

Ríona fell to her knees in the soft snow, heedless of the cold moisture that seeped through her nightgown, and asked, "What am I supposed to do?"

 

The spirit seemed sad as it replied, "That is for you to find out. We do not know."

 

The spirit faded away, leaving Ríona to sob uncontrollably on the snow-covered walkway. It was so cold that the tears seemed to freeze on her cheeks.

 

"I can't...I can't go back in there..." her breath hitched with fear as she spoke aloud. She could almost hear the ghost telling her that she must. Ríona fiercely shook her head in denial, but she knew that the war within was lost as she stood on shaky legs to face the house. Despite a fresh coat of paint and well-manicured lawn, there was something creepy about the old place. She wondered why it never looked warped to her before. She had never felt the presence of the spirits prior to her grandmother's death.

 

It was as if the woman's passing unlocked a dormant ability that was there all her life. She took a deep breath in an effort to calm herself and slowly made her way back to the house. Ríona jumped when the door slammed shut behind her, as if to say, 'well you're staying and that's final'.

 

She shivered and wished for a hot shower, but the thought of closing her eyes against the spray had her wondering what she should expect to see when she opened them again. The idea of a bunch of ghosts seeing her naked was not appealing either, now that she knew about them.

 

Instead, she started a fire in the old hearth for warmth and comfort. She knelt in front of it, holding her hands out to the heat. A pair of hands firmly rested on her back, kneeding the tense muscles there. Ríona whimpered softly, afraid to move. The sensation faded away, taking some of the tension with it and she sighed with relief.

 

Alex retreated to a place in the room where he could keep an eye on her. Perhaps when she grew used to the antics of some of the more...playful spirits in the house and wouldn't be so frightened of him, he could approach her again. It was the demons that had him worried and one in particular that had the ability to touch things of the living world, just as he did.

 

Gromog was the one that terrorized the woman by moving furniture and other objects, but being a demon, Gromog had other frightening abilities. He could look like anyone he wanted, even if they were ghosts. It was Gromog that had the power to bind souls to the house. The other demons were all just low-ranking mischief makers that followed Gromog.

 

The woman was here to set them free, according to an old prophecy that the spirit of the Witch had told him about. If it were not for Liadan, he was sure that Ríona would not have returned to the house. As much as he wished his soul was free to go, he knew that Ríona would not be safe until the demons were gone. Somehow, he had to tell her that she needed to concentrate on getting rid of them first. The others would not protest about moving on.

 

Alex thought back to how they had all come to be here...the house had belonged to Liadan and her family for generations. One day, while her family had gone out, Liadan made a poor decision to summon a demon which turned out to be Gromog. A strong gust of wind from his arrival blew out all of the candles that lined her circle and she was left defenseless in the face of his wrath. When her family returned they found her dead. One by one, Gromog picked them off in various ways until there was nothing left but souls. The last one left standing fled to try and make a life somewhere else.

 

Like a handful of others that roamed the house, he came in the hopes of drumming up some business, and Gromog was happy to add them to his collection. Alex had just turned thirty-four and was finally thinking about settling down with his girlfriend at the time. He never had the chance to ask if she would marry him. He didn't even know if she was still alive and could only hope that she found someone to be happy with.

 

Gromog appeared in front of him suddenly, but Alex was used to it.

 

"You think to warn her, don't you?" the demon growled.

 

Alex shrugged. "And if I do? What more can you do to me?"

 

"I asked you a question!" Gromog roared so loudly that the pictures on the walls rattled.

 

Ríona jumped where she sat, her gaze drawn to the quivering frames. She lifted her chin in defiance and stayed where she was. Other spirits gathered in a circle around her in an attempt to protect her. Alex saw Liadan nod in approval at Ríona's shift in attitude, although she chose not to become corporeal.

 

"So she does have some spine, weak human that she is," Gromog tried to cover the faint admiration in his voice with the insult. He noticed the others and laughed. "Do you think to overwhelm me with numbers? If I want her dead, she will be like the rest of you, but it has been a long time since I have ravished a woman."

 

Alex almost gagged at the images that conjured. "So you plan to--"

 

Gromog cut him off, snarling, "You still have not answered what I asked before and I will ask once more before I lose my temper, do you think to warn her?"

 

"I think you already know the answer to that and you still didn't answer my question," Alex said coldly.

 

Gromog stepped closer to him, so his black eyes filled Alex's vision, "I can bring you to the Underworld as surely as I hold you to this house. Hades would have fun devouring you. Do not interfere, that is my warning to you."

 

Alex blinked once and Gromog was gone. For the time being.

 

Ríona gathered a warm, green fleecy blanket around herself. She was freezing, despite the crackling fire in the hearth. Her thoughts whirled around in her mind as she planned on her next course of action. How did you free trapped spirits? She knew that she needed to search the house to see if she could find any information, particularly in the library and possibly the attic. The very idea gave her chills and she pulled the blanket tighter. But perhaps there was a journal or some other record that would tell her things about the house and its past.

 

Perhaps she should start with trying to see some of the nicer ghosts. The one on the path had not been able to give her any ideas, but she must know some of the history. They could at least tell her how they died. Ríona gulped...she didn't really want to know. But, I have to know, she thought. I have to learn all that I can about this.

 

Her thoughts wandered to other matters. She had a Gift. Did that mean she was a witch? Or possibly a medium? She was always something of a skeptic. She had her palm read once, and was very amused when the "pyschic" woman told her that she would be married in six months to her fiancé, but she wasn't engaged and didn't even have a boyfriend! Much to the fake's displeasure, Ríona told her this after the reading and had asked what the price would be to conjure a man out of thin air for her. She had laughed her way out of the little shop.

 

But now...now she was the weirdo. This was real. And who could she tell? Her friends were just as skeptical as she was known to be. Besides, they were all busy with their families and she had lost touch with most of them after she left college. They didn't have time for this sort of thing. She was on her own. Taking a deep breath, Ríona stood up and gathered the blanket around her so she wouldn't trip as she walked toward the library.

 

She flicked on the light with trembling fingers before stepping inside. All the surfaces were spotless, even the bindings of the books. She loved to read and passed many leisurely hours in here. Her eyes fell with longing on some of the familiar and beloved titles, but she looked away and headed for a section that held books that were called things like Otherworlds: A Guide to Astral Travel, The Dead Speak, and Shades. There were other books on mythology from various cultures, references and guides for practicing magic. She had always wondered why her grandmother had these, but never thought to ask. The woman had never seemed interested in them. But she was glad that they were there. It gave her a starting point, even if the books turned out to be no help at all.

 

Ríona selected The Dead Speak, glancing at the copyright date - which she noted with some shock was relatively recent - before flipping to the introduction:

 

Studies have shown that the voices of the dead can be recorded where spirit activity is suspected. This book evaluates true case studies where EVP or Electronic Voice Phenomenon have been captured on tape. The recordings can be found on our website at www.evp.com...

 

She made a mental note to check the site tomorrow and went back to the living room to continue reading by the fire.

 

- - -

 

Ríona continued to read the book until her eyes closed. It felt like she only had an hour of sleep before the sun woke her. The Dead Speak lay where it landed on the floor by the couch after slipping from her grasp. She looked around the room, hearing nothing but the old Grandfather clock ticking ominously.

 

As she picked up the book, a small piece of paper fluttered into her lap. She read the single word that was printed by a somewhat shaky hand: Exercise.

 

"Exercise?" She whispered incredulously. Shaking her head, she almost crumbled the paper and tossed it in the trash, but she decided to find where she left off the previous night and used it to mark her place instead.

 

"I guess I'm supposed to do Jumping Jacks to set these ghosts free?" she muttered grumpily while she fixed a cup of coffee and headed over to her computer with The Dead Speak tucked under her arm. As Ríona moved the mouse across the screen, heading for the browser icon, the arrow moved of its own accord and opened her text editor.

 

She jumped when she heard the tapping of the keys and her jaw dropped while she read the words being typed in all capital letters:

 

PLEASE DO NOT SCREAM! I AM TRYING TO HELP YOU. I SPELLED IT WRONG ON THE PAPER. EXORCISE.

 

Ríona sat back in her chair, breathing quickly. Don't be afraid! How could she not be? She took a deep breath to calm herself and after minimizing the text document, clicked on the browser icon. The homepage was set to her favorite search engine. She typed in exorcise into the text field and clicked "go". A series of links appeared on the screen and she explored each one. The first was information about exorcism from Wikipedia and she devoured the article, making a mental note to visit the nearest Priest today.

 

Next, she went to evp.com and listened to the spirit voice samples with gooseflesh. They certainly did not sound like any other recordings that she heard before. Some of the voices were in such faint whispers that it was hard to make out the words and others sounded clear as a bell. All were short phrases or one word and sounded as if they were recorded outside on a windy day. She added the site to her bookmarks and saved the text document before turning off the computer.

 

It was time to take a shower and get to the nearest church, despite her misgivings about the spirits seeing her naked. After all, they probably already saw her most private areas.

Edited September 30, 2007 by Lady Night Owl