Watching more of Luke and Liam’s videos made me really regret being willing to be in them. They were sensationalist, made a huge deal about nothing, and were full of stupid humor that made me question what kind of audience they had. And yet, as I sat there beside Liam, I couldn’t help but love it.
It may not have been something I would have ever enjoyed watching by myself, but there was something about filming the videos that made them so much more fun to watch. As they walked through the dark rooms of the old house/museum they were exploring, It almost felt like I was there with them, walking around and talking to the air.
We watched the entire episode together, laughing at the stupid jokes and occasionally pausing so Liam could give more context to what was going on in the house. He would also point out things that he thought were for sure ghost activity, but I didn’t see a ghost throughout the entire episode.
“So that’s where you thought that Luke might have gotten possessed?” I asked as the end screen played. “I hate to break it to you, but I didn’t see any ghosts throughout the video.”
“I figured,” he said with a slight shrug, “but there were a lot of spots that got cut out of the video. Besides the fact that Luke seemed to start changing around this time, though, one of the reasons why I suspect this might be the place is because one of the ghosts at the Graham House is supposedly the daughter of one of the owners, and the apparition of a little girl is one of the most commonly seen ones.”
I nodded, remembering them talking about that in the video. “So you’re thinking that, in one of the points that you cut out of the video, she might have possessed Luke?”
“It’s as possible as anything else, isn’t it?” I shrugged in response. “I wish we still had the parts of the video that got cut out, but that was so long ago, it would have been deleted to make space for new things.”
“Yeah, that probably would have been our only way of knowing for sure,” I said with a sigh. “But you said that you thought that he might not have been possessed by a ghost,” I reminded him. “If the Graham House is haunted by the ghost of a little girl, how could it be the same.”
“Well, that’s the thing,” he said, lightly turning his chair to better face me. His knees knocked into mine in a way that I couldn’t help but notice, but he didn’t move them away. “Have you heard the theory about ghosts of little girls?”
I shook my head. “I try my best to stay away from theories created by people who can’t even see ghosts,” I said.
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“Well, I’m sorry to drag you into one, then,” he said, giving me a little half smile. “So, there’s this prevailing theory that ghosts never appear as children. Because of that, if you see the ghost of a child, that means that it’s not actually a ghost. The theory says that any child ghosts are actually demonic.”
I started shaking my head halfway through his sentence. “That’s not how the ghost world works,” I said. “From everything I’ve gathered from actually talking with ghosts, once you die, you can appear to be whatever age you want to be. So, if you’d prefer to be a child, you can be.”
“Sure, but who would actually prefer to be a child in the afterlife?” Liam said in a tone that was only halfway joking. “If I was going to be any age, I’d be about the age I am now - old enough for people to take me seriously, but not old enough to be considered old.”
“You might,” I said, emphasizing the word ‘you.’ “But what if you died as a child and that was the only thing you’d ever known? Or maybe life got harder for you as you got older, and you realized that the best times in your life were when you were a young child.”
“Yeah, but how many times have you actually seen it?” he said, emphasizing the word ‘seen.’
I thought for a second. I knew I had definitely seen a few child ghosts here and there, usually when I had visited a hospital ward. The kids were always some of my favorite to deal with - always sweet to be around, they were ready to play, and it was never a huge task to get them to go toward the light. The same couldn’t be said for adults - often they were stuck in their ways, and that was the exact reason why they were stuck here.
“A few,” I answered after a minute.
“And how many acted like this?”
“Absolutely none.”
Liam nodded slowly, as though waiting for me to piece it together. “So,” he eventually started, “the prevailing theory that I’ve seen is that demons will come to Earth and will present themselves specifically as little girls, because everyone would think they’re cute and innocent or whatever. But in reality, they attach themselves to someone and they start draining their life energy from them.”
“That’s why I’ve been so concerned about the possibility of demons with Luke,” he continued. “He’s been so tired lately, and he keeps saying that he hasn’t been able to sleep, so what if it’s more than that.”
“But demons don’t exist,” I reminded him. “Ghosts are real, but I’ve never seen anything that would even point to a demon.”
“Yeah, but you also had never seen a possession, and that obviously happened,” he said, turning his chair to purposely bump his knee lightly against mine. “Maybe it’s time to face the idea that you just don’t know everything.”
“Well, that definitely can’t be it,” I joked, and a light smile lit up his face. We sat in companionable silence for a moment later, both just staring at the paused end screen on the computer. “So,” I said slowly, and he turned to look at me. There it was again - that expression that I couldn’t quite read. “If this actually is a demon, then I’m out of my depth with this one. Ghosts are pretty cooperative, but I have to imagine demons would not be.”
“Probably not. Which, I suppose, means there’s still a good chance he’s possessed.” I nodded. “Do you have any way to check to see if there’s something in the Boo Buddy?”
“I didn’t notice a spirit in there earlier, but I assumed I was missing something,” I answered. “But even if there was, there’s no way to tell for sure unless the spirit wants you to know about it.”
“Well,” he said, suddenly pushing back his chair and standing up. “I suppose we’ll just have to ask him then, won’t we?” He held out his hand to help me up, and I took it. Call me crazy, but I was starting to think that the tingles that went down my spine every time he touched me had nothing to do with the ghost hunting anymore.