They walked in silence as Jasper needed time to recover from telling his harrowing tale, and Mitch needed time to process it. The roads were rather busy for this time of night so it would be best if they weren’t talking too much, but it felt strange. Oftentimes they were talking about something, even if it was minor when they were on their way to a job. Today was different, today there was a life on the line that they had control over.
Taking the same path they took last time to avoid suspicion they walked around the town to return to the hospital from the other side. The manor was right next to the hospital so Jasper wanted to take a long route.
Entering the parking lot beside the hospital, Jasper said calmly “Do not let her know what will happen if she says no. That will force her hand, and ultimately might lead to her living a far more miserable life with us.”
“I understand.” Mitch replied in a dull tone, still not comfortable doing this, but at this point he knew he had to, or he would be at risk to a similar fate. He felt his heart pounding the closer they got. A sense of nervousness he hadn’t felt outside of a haunt in a long time.
Devan would be the first to meet them once they entered the hospital, which like last time would cause Jasper's face to sink into a perpetually annoyed gaze. “You better have not talked to her.” He warned, his tone could put the fear of god in any man.
“Woah, woah!” Devon raised his arms to hold them either side of his head with open palms “Calm down there executioner. I was a good boy, promise.”
“Lara will be the judge of that.” He grumbled as he pushed past him, Mitch following suit. “We won't need an escort today. I know where the room is.”
“Right, okay, I get it.” Devan huffed like a spoiled child having his parents tell him no for the first time in his young life. He stood with his arms crossed as the two got into the elevator and turned to face him.
Jasper waved in a manner he wanted to come across as condescending while the doors closed. “You really hate that guy.” Mitch said with a hint of a nervous laugh, but what was coming up was enough to stifle a full one.
“He's nothing more than a leech who tries to get his head in far deeper than it is allowed.” Jasper explained, his annoyance clear as day now they were alone “If he pushes it any deeper it will end up on the chopping block.”
Mitch went to say something, but the doors to the third floor would open which seemed to bring in a flood of cold air. The hairs on his arm would begin to stand up as he watched the door open and with it, the immediate feeling of dread that they were close to what could change someone's life... or end it.
“Calm down.” Jasper said as he stepped out, looking back over his shoulder at him “If you can't control your emotions, you will make her realise something is wrong, and you'll cause paranoia.”
Mitch could only bring himself to nod, stepping out of the elevator before the doors closed behind him. The thud of the doors closing felt far louder than normal and almost caused him to jump. Jasper noticed his sudden shakiness and paused his advance. “I guess I should have seen this coming.” He sighed, turning to take a grasp of his shoulders. “If you feel you can't do this, I'll leave you outside to collect your thoughts and tell you her answer.”
“No.” Mitch replied quickly, steeling himself as best he could “I caused this. I need to be there to see the consequences of my actions.”
Jasper stared into his eyes for some time, looking like he was judging Mitch’s very soul to see if he was ready for this. “If you are sure.” He said assuringly “Just remember to stay calm and I will take over where I need to.”
They shared a silent nod and a determined glare before Jasper pulled Mitch close into a tight hug. It was quite unexpected, not something he had ever done before so it caused Mitch to drop his guard, clamming up but reciprocating the hug as tight as he could.
Moments later Jasper released the grasp and said “Now, show me what you got,” grabbing his shoulder and pushing him front and centre.
He could see the door at the end of the hall from here but it felt so much further away than before. Each step echoed louder and his anxiety raised approaching the door. There was no time for hesitation anymore since he had come this far, taking a hold of the handle once he got to the door he quickly turned the knob and pushed it open.
“Hey.” Mitch said as casually as one could given the heavy topic that was to be discussed.
Lara was laying in the bed still, the back section having been raised so she could sit in an elevated position. “Hello.” She said hoarsely, her hands laying on top of the thick blanket that covered her, her arm seemed to have recovered enough to not require the cast anymore “I take it my time is up?”
That query was enough to sink Mitch's heart, while he knew what she meant, it was sadly accurate to what it really meant.
“Yes.” Mitch said as he took the seat to her right closest to the door, Jasper taking the seat by the foot of the bed “Have you thought of your answer?” Jasper asked.
“Yes.” She said once more, her gaze fixed upon Mitch as if she was still staring at a ghost. She did not answer right away and Mitch felt as if she was staring right through him.
Neither Mitch or Jasper rushed her. They allowed her to take her time, as Jasper allowed Mitch to take his time with such a difficult question. Seconds felt like minutes to him at this point as his heart was beginning to pound, waiting to hear what she had decided to do.
But she remained quiet. She stared at Mitch as she seemed to be in a trance, though for all Mitch knew she could have been collecting her thoughts. After some time had passed he just asked “Are you alright?”
She took a few more moments to compose herself before she said “I have put a lot of thought into this. I have had more than enough time as you can imagine. I have had these visions and such for years, and I've always been called a liar or insane for having them...” Her sullen words hit home with Mitch as he couldn't fully relate, but he had an idea of such an awful feeling.
“So now someone comes along and tells me what I'm seeing is real.” she would grip the blanket atop her lap and turn her gaze to Jasper, then back to Mitch “So I have to learn more about this all. I want to come with you.”
It was an immediate shock to hear her so eager to come. It felt like a wave crashing into the shore of his doubts, destroying them and pulling them back out to sea to rest in the inky depths of his emotions.
He couldn't help but smile at her though he found no words, he wasn't expecting to get an answer this fast, nor one so positive.
Jasper took his silence as que to step in. Clearing his throat to get her attention he said “Well that certainly is good news ma'am. You will be leaving all you have behind for this, correct?”
Jasper joining in suddenly wiped the smile from Mitch's face, causing him to look distraught. Even though he was making sure she understood the burden she was taking on, he was afraid making a point to affirm that she might change her mind.
She would go back into a state of thought placing a hand on her chin staring down at her lap. Mitch kept a smile on his face since a sudden change in tone would be suspicious after all but his heart was pounding inside his chest once more.
She would nod shortly after “I am fine with that. I don’t really talk to my family as it is. I moved out here to get away from them.”
Before the wave of relief could even set in this time Jasper continued “You will become part of our family, and be trained to work in our field. This is dangerous work that could lead to death.”
It was less dread now and more exasperation and worry, feeling this conversation was going to cause him to have a heart attack if Jasper kept probing her to change her mind.
She would nod once again with far less thought this time “I had read what you left me. I am fully aware of the hazards of the work.”
“Then It's settled.” Jasper said, slapping his hands down against the top of his legs and standing up “I will send word to my friends and they will be here very shortly to take you for some basic training and such.”
Mitch wanted to ask questions, but he felt it best to wait until they had left so he nodded and stood up in a similar fashion “It's nice to meet you. I hope to see you soon.” Offering her a hand which was limply shook.
“Thank you for the opportunity.” She said hopefully, a tinge of a happy sadness in her tone as she watched the two leave the room.
Once they were far enough away from the room Mitch would walk in front of Jasper and ask “She's not coming with us?”
“Do you think I want another novice to train?” He responded, pushing a hand on his head and messing up his hair. “She will be going off for private tutoring for a while so she can get up to at least understanding how the family and spirits work. Then she will return to us and I will continue her training.”
He grunted annoyed as he tried to fix his hair back into place, despite its usual scruffy look. “Any idea how long that will take?” he asked, approaching the elevator and looking around for peeping ears.
Jasper pressed the button on the wall to the right “It should take maybe a few weeks for her to return to us. After that she will begin to help us on haunts while I train her during the day.”
“Good, good.” Mitch replied. Trying to sound casual but what he really wanted was to get home and just deflate. He could finally relax.
Stepping into the elevator they both fell silent. As expected when the elevator opened on the ground floor Devan had been standing right next to it, perhaps hoping for the chance to catch the tail end of a conversation.
He looked somewhat disappointed once they stepped out together. Jasper gave him a brief glance, but that was all he got from them as they walked to the main entrance. “You should head home.” Jasper said, patting Mitch on the back. “I still have some work that needs to be done here.”
“Don’t need my help with it?” Mitch asked curiously, raising a brow.
“Nah, boring paperwork stuff.” He assured him.
“If you say so.” Mitch replied, rummaging through his hoodie's front pocket to find his phone. “See you when you get back.”
“See you then.” Jasper nodded, watching him walk off through the darkened parking lot that was only kept vaguely alight by the overhead, half broken, street lights.
When he got back to the manor he decided to take a break and lie down in his room, not exactly sure if they had a job tonight or not. Throwing himself back onto the bed he looked over his phone again, oftentimes ignoring the messages in the group chat that consisted a lot of Saoirse posting links she liked with Joel occasionally responding to them.
P-Normal.com was the site he was looking for today, a blogger that was often talked about in school because he would travel the world looking for signs of the supernatural. It was usually nonsense that he had made up with some doctored photographs according to Jasper, but the majority of those in school seemed to believe him. It was a guilty pleasure to see the conspiracy theories these people came up with.
He was allowed to continue to do all this mostly because for as many people he convinced there are traces of magic, he had equally convinced others that it was all just smoke and mirrors, creating a greater amount of sceptics like every other sham ghost hunter out there.
His site loaded up as horribly tacky as it always did, wilted tree branches over the left and right side of the screen that encroached on the text in the middle with some generic horror music playing through the speakers.
On the top of the page there were some links to his previous entries, photos, videos, and contact information. Clicking on previous entries took him to a list of posts that were dated from newest to oldest. They always had names such as “Cork manor exploration *must read*”, “Proof ghosts are real?”. The most recent one was posted two days prior, titled “Carlow abandoned manor (I found proof of magic!?!?)”
“Clever titles as always.” Mitch quietly chuckled to himself, clicking in to see what not so clever ruse he had spun this time.
He read through the boring introduction that felt like it was copy and pasted from every post that droned on about his life and why he decided to become a ‘paranormal investigator’ which all led back to watching horror movies with his father. It felt like one of those life stories always pasted at the start of every recipe online and it filled him with the same sense of annoyance. “Just get to the point.” An equally valid thought for both.
As always, he had a large amount of photos from his trip out there and the first was rather… concerning.
“It can’t be..” Mitch said as he looked at the first photo of an old manor shrouded by thickened black woods that he was sure was familiar.
The next photo provided a better idea of where he was with a photo of the entranceway to the manor that solidified his fear. “We’ve been here…” Mitch said quietly, quickening his scrolling until he reached the next photo that had the large scratch marks along the walls and floor that were a result of the fiend being able to reach into the corporeal world.
This one specifically had a caption that read “This was enough to make me consider leaving right away, like what kind of animal could make marks like these?!”
The comments on the photo were a mix of his sceptics, and supporters and for every “Wow that looks so scary!” would be met with at least one or more “This is clearly faked.”
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Hesitantly, Mitch continued through the blog post where he detailed how it looked like some monster tore its way through the building with some more following photos of the shattered windows and pictures having been knocked to the floor. Each one had its own typical caption of “how spooky it was here guys.” or some variant. It wasn’t exactly uncommon for him to check out places that the family had exorcised but that didn’t make it any less nerve wracking seeing the remnants of his job on some guy's blog.
But the nail in the coffin that made this a large issue was the final picture that was taken inside the master bedroom. It was clear as day, a photo that shook Mitch to his core. His face turned pale as he read the caption. “So what do you think this is guys?”
It had quite a few more pictures of it from other angles. The title read on the final one “It looks like some ancient magical symbol or something!” While this conclusion was most likely pulled right out of his ass, it was the correct conclusion in this case. He had managed to get a picture of the rune that Mitch had used to expel the spirit of the manor, in a perfectly clear condition which stood as a reminder that he had forgotten to erase it in his excitement of finishing his first job.
A sudden dread was beginning to wash over his body, realising now that he had left such a crucial piece of evidence at the scene of the manor. He immediately began to think what would happen to him now that he had let such an important secret out.
He continued to read the pages of comments on these photos, and some were even noting that runes like these had been seen before in some of P-normals blogs before. Luckily for him, a few of these comments made reference to the posts so he was able to go back into the archive and see the blog post.
The last one before this was a few months back in Wicklow where he was investigating an underground bunker that had been said to have been there for years. Inside the dark halls he found traces of runes left along the walls and one fully intact rune carved into the wooden floor of a food storage room which was still partially stocked.
“This is bad…” He mumbled once more. He had also found runes of a similar design over in Dublin, specifically crumlin, the shopping centre there having been said to have screaming in the middle of the night one day opened up and a rune was left on the back of a pillar, and from that day on the screaming had stopped.
P-Normal would have posted a few non paranormal blog posts he often overlooked, but he wanted to check them out today knowing that he has already seen something he shouldn’t have.
The blog post this week came only a few hours after he posted the manor investigation where he talked mostly about his experiences and all of his explorations bringing “new evidence” of magic to light. Later in the pompous article that seemed to mostly be about stroking his own ego over how many readers he gets on his main articles he finally mentioned something of use.
“I have noticed that I have seen these runes in a few places around the world. Each time they looked different, but the style of them was the same. I bet you are wondering what I mean?” The last line was enough to have Mitch audibly groan through his dread at how cheesily this blog was written. “The type of lines, movement, and even the handwriting style seem similar along with the face they were all carved into something.”
Those seemed like very broad statements to Mitch, grasping at straws that were very much in reach for him. This made him fear that if P-normal got too deep into this then he would wind up being killed to cover up what he was finding.
Though there was also the worry of what was going to happen to himself, this was very sensitive information he left behind and surely if they were this strict about Lara he could only imagine what the punishment for something like leaving a rune out in public would be.
He ended the article with a tagline that said “I love anyone who read this far, and be prepared for another blog post very soon with some ground breaking news!”
Mitch sighed and turned off his phone, deciding to get up and wander the manor in hopes that Jasper was home already. The halls at this time of night were rather eerie and unsettling as only a handful of lightbulbs struggled to light up the entire hall that was once lit by candle light alone.
Each room along the hall had a different rune on its door that glowed lightly any time he passed. He knew the names of the old members of the family already but was always curious what type of people they were, having never asked Jasper about them since he felt it was a very sore topic. Now he knew how sore of a topic it was.
Despite the manor being something out of an old horror film, he always felt safe and at home here somehow. He could never pin why, as usually long halls in dim light like this would leave him feeling paranoid or nervous that fiends and imps would flood around the corners at any moment. The old manor would often have loud noises like creaking, or the boiler in the attic making a loud whistling noise when it was fully heated, but he had become accustomed to these noises over the years and was able to ignore them for the most part.
By the time he made it to the first floor he would have gone into the kitchen to make a mug of tea. Once the kettle was filled and on he leaned back against the counter and took out his phone to re-read the blog posts on the strange website.
It would have been a few hours before Jasper returned from the hospital. At this time Mitch was sitting in the living room area by the front door reading over some textbooks from school.
“Studying hard?” Jasper asked as he approached, carrying a large file under his right arm.
“Hardly studying.” Mitch said coyly, though his attention was kept to the book.
Jasper entered the room and sat down across from him in that large comfortable armchair he often sat in whenever they came here. “So, she has been sent off for basic training and should be back with us in a few weeks depending on how fast she learns.”
When it came to talking about her, and most likely work after, Mitch put the book down on the table and turned his attention to Jasper “And she was okay going off?” he asked. The awkwardness between them still existed for himself at least, but he put it aside to be professional.
“She was fine, a bit nervous but that is to be expected.” He explained, letting out a sigh as he melted back into the soft armchair “Glad it’s just over.”
“Yeah, it was a lot of stress.” Mitch agreed, deciding to bite the bullet and get this out of the way, as much as he didn’t want to. “But there is another problem that has popped up.”
“What is it?” Jasper asked, his tone implying that he expected something to go wrong as he got comfortable.
“Well, that blogger, P-Normal, has put up a new update and blog.” He started off.
“He has made several blogs, what’s so special about this one?” Jasper asked somewhat dismissively, expecting it to be another case of a fake scare or made up magic.
“Well…” Mitch replied nervously, starting to get increasingly worried as he pulled up the photo of the rune he had left behind “He seems to have gone to that manor we worked on before.”
Jasper leaned forward and looked at the photo, furrowing a brow as he did. “Well, this is certainly more concerning.”
That was enough to make Mitch turn pale, terrified now he had made some form of fatal mistake. Jasper saw the look on his face and shook his head “Don’t worry too much you dip.” He chuckled light heartedly “You won’t get in trouble with the family.”
“But I left behind a whole rune that he found, that seems like a big mistake.” Mitch reasoned, putting his phone down once Jasper had a thorough look.
“It happens.” Jasper mentioned. “Even that guy has found a few around the world, but he can’t activate them and only those who know of their existence actually can. So in the end all it is, is a strange phenomenon to people like him.”
“He has started to make connections though, even pointing out that he had seen all of these before somewhere.” Mitch tried to argue, showing the post where he mentioned they all looked similar.
Jasper once again nodded in response and sat upright in the chair “Don’t worry about it, he won’t be able to prove anything with just a few runes and some speculation. You’d be in more danger if you had left behind a dagger, or your notebook. This is going to become another urban legend.”
“But what do we do about this?” He was quick to interject “Surely this is still some form of issue the family has to be concerned about.”
“Not necessarily.” Jasper replied, once again fidgeting with his wedding ring using his thumb “While this does get information out there about us, people don't know what to do with it. You may have noticed on all his posts there are also people calling it fake, so it also causes people to become more distant from the idea that what we do is real.”
“So we just… let it happen?” He asked, somewhat taken aback at how casual he was about all of this.
“No, we can investigate the manor once again and remove traces of the rune. Once people can’t see it for themselves they will get to calling him a liar and accuse him of doctoring evidence. That will truly brand him as a fraud, or at least a parody account.”
Mitch thought about it for a few moments.“FIne, I’ll go get ready.” he said before turning to a light jog up the stairs.
The full moon hung high in the sky above the car as they drove to their destination, shining its light down across the forest they drove through.
“Are you okay?” Jasper asked, casually leaning back in his seat as he drove them towards the old manor.
“I’m not sure.” He responded in a dampened tone “Even if I won’t be blamed for this, It’s still nerve wracking.” It was also down to it being very late after waiting up for him. Exhaustion was hitting hard.
“I can understand.” Jasper mumbled, drumming his fingers along the wheel driving through the dirt path with no sign of any life over the last half hour. “But just don’t let it get in the way of your judgement when it comes to the job.”
“It won’t.” Mitch stated bluntly.
Jasper sighed and gave him a brief glance “Alright then, we will be there soon.”
Eventually the car slowed to a stop as that darkened manor hung over the trees in the distance. It was just as eerie as the first time they came here and filled him with a similar, but different feeling of dread.
Stepping out of the car they stood beside it. Jasper was giving Mitch some time to compose himself while he locked the doors and walked around the old truck to check the tires and gently press his foot against them to check the pressure.
“Let’s get this done quickly.” Mitch eventually said, walking up along the dirt path that winded between the old trees that struggled to hold onto their leaves. The ground gave a crunching noise as they walked due to the sheer amount of leaves that had fallen from each tree around the path and deeper into the forest.
There were other crunching noises from the darkness in the distance which put Mitch on edge for a moment each time, but he would eventually reason it was obviously some animal out there.
The closer they got to the manor the clearer its front face became, the top windows still smashed with pieces of glass scattered around the front door. “It’s like it's stuck in time.” Mitch mumbled to no one in particular “Guess it's how abandonment goes…” Brief glances of Kevin’s feelings of hopelessness and abandonment flooded his mind as he stared at the home. Now was not the time to let that get to him. Steeling himself he approached the door yet again.
The doors would open up after a moment which caused Mitch to let out what could only be described as a squeak rather than a scream, revealing a large man in a generic suit. “Can I help you?” He asked sternly as he looked down at Mitch, then to Jasper.
“We were exploring, and heard this place was abandoned.” Jasper calmly explained. “Why would someone like yourself be out here at this time of night?”
“I could ask you the same.” The tall and well built balding man who really should just cut the rest off so he wouldn't look so ridiculous replied.
“Well what better time to explore an abandoned spooky manor?” Mitch interjected.
The man looked unconvinced, but stayed blocking the doorway. “Well I am sorry to say this building is not abandoned, so I suggest you leave.”
While he was trying to get them to leave, Mitch could see into the building behind him. He saw in the main lobby there were some large lights set up that were connected to a portable generator that’s obnoxious engine revving could be quietly heard all the way out here.
“Strange…” Jasper said as he now stood beside Mitch. “Last I checked the owner of the manor passed away, and the family had decided to not claim the manor.”
The balding man was starting to look quite irritated by this point, glaring down at the two before saying “I said this place is not abandoned. Please leave, and goodbye.” Stepping back inside to slam the doors closed.
“Seems like we have to leave.” Jasper said, pinching the ridge of his nose.
“But..” Mitch tried to say, though Jasper quietened him with a hand motion to remain silent.
“We can’t just go trespassing if it's owned. Let’s go back to the car.”
Mitch couldn’t argue back in this situation so he simply nodded and stared at the old wooden doors for a few more moments before they returned to the car.
“Well what are we actually doing?” Mitch asked once they were far enough away from the building.
Jasper opened up the car with his key as they got close and said “You’ll spirit walk into the building and check it out.”
“Why me?” Mitch asked, shocked. “We both know I suck with long distance spirit walking.”
Jasper buckled himself in and pulled his phone out of his pocket “Because it looks weird that the driver has fallen asleep, don’t you think?”
He couldn’t exactly argue against that and just sighed with a half nod. “Yeah, I guess I can do that.”
“I’ll buy you some time.” Jasper added “I’ll make a call so it at least looks like we are busy here.”
“Alright, alright.” Mitch grumbled, not exactly having much of a choice about this.
He sat back into the soft seat and closed his eyes, once again beginning to channel what mana he could find in the air. It was rather potent out this far from society in the forest which made it easier for him to slowly step out of his own body.
He had to be quick and careful when it came to using his power, knowing the longer he stayed in it the more it was going to hurt his real body so when he opened his eyes and found himself standing outside the car in a far dimmer and creepier version of the forest.
His vision had been very limited when in this form, and even his ability to feel anything, it was just as if air was passing through him in this spectral form. The trees in the distance became shrouded in darkness that he couldn’t hope to see through and the light of the moon hardly managed to penetrate it.
He looked in at Jasper who pointed in the direction of the manor. Mitch gave him a thumbs up and to save spending more time than he needed to in this form took off in a sprint down the path towards the manor.
It would only take a minute to get to the manor, running straight past the rough looking man that had stopped them before which caused the man to shudder and look over his shoulder “Creepy place…” He muttered. Mitch was trying to recall the layout from the last time they were here but that was quite some time ago.
Once inside the front doors he found there were portable lights set up and aiming at the door that were connected to a portable generator. While he couldn’t see any, he assumed there had to be some cameras set up somewhere for this to be left on overnight.
While he found that the lights were set up below, the upstairs was rather quiet. There were no lights set up but he could see some red carpeting had been put down.
The halls felt even more ominous now compared to last time they were here, the spirit world being far more vague with a shadowy cloak that blocked his vision in the distance that was slowly encroaching on him.
The sound oddly echoed through him as he heard some vague talking from somewhere on this floor.
He was beginning to feel the stress of the situation begin to set in on his body as it was starting to tense up and become harder to move at the speed he was going at. The same dark fog that blocked his vision had begun to shrink in and make it harder to see over time.
As the fog got closer in on him he tried to recall, taking a winding set of corridors to find the master bedroom.
He was eventually hit with the ability to sense it from hearing someone talk in the distance. Following it as best as he could he would finally come across the master bedroom that he had struggled so hard in before.
The halls were still rather broken up from the claw marks of the large creature. “It’s scary to think they can get strong enough to destroy parts of the real world…” He thought as he stared at the master bedroom door.
His hand shivered as he reached out for the door handle. It only took a moment for him to realise there was no point in doing so before he placed his hand on it and tried to push through.
Before he could match the feeling of the door he could hear some talking from inside. “Yeah, It’s all set up now. Just need to wait until next Thursday when we can get the camera crews and people in here.” He wasn't able to recognise the voice, but really he had no idea who P.Normal even was.
With that he found his grip on his form break and he was overtaken by that dark fog, causing him to feel a deep strain through his body that eventually became too much. He struggled to maintain his form and he could see his hand beginning to dissipate. “Come on, not now!” he thought as he pushed forward, though his hand completely faded and became unusable here. One last intense push at the door caused the darkness to over take his vision, and the world faded away around him.