Finding the Way Back (23 page)

They sat looking uncomfortable and glancing
at each other nervously. “I was just thinking,” my mom said,
looking at Judith candidly. “If our mother is here, will this
process we’re going to do cause her harm or hurt her spirit in any
way?” Aunt Shelly nodded anxiously. She was apparently having the
same concern.

“Oh, thank you for asking so I can clarify.
No harm will come to any spirit who may be here. This is not an
exorcism in the sense of forcing a spirit out or fighting it. No,
this is merely a clearing of negative energies, whatever they may
be. If there are spirits here who are disturbed, there must be a
reason. The Great Spirit, or God, or the Universe, whatever your
perception of a Higher Power, knows what you are trying to
accomplish. So you can’t do it ‘wrong’ or unintentionally cause
harm. I truly believe this will help whoever is restless to move
on.”

Tess and Shelly looked at each other
apprehensively, but acquiesced. “If you’re sure of that, then we
are willing to participate,” Aunt Shelly said, leaning back into
the sofa.

As we ended the discussion, Emmett, Melanie,
Glen and Dean walked back into the room. I noticed Melanie standing
virtually on Emmett’s feet.

“Everyone please stand,” Judith began. “Let’s
all take a deep breath and form into a circle.” Everyone tried to
cram into the small space, making a variation of a circle. Melanie
wove her way around to end up standing near Emmett. “Try to clear
your mind of any doubts, worries or anxieties. You can close your
eyes or leave them open as you wish. Attune yourself to the air
flowing in and out of your lungs.” I looked at Aunt Shelly, who was
looking at my mom, who was looking at me. I looked at Connie who
sniffed and wrinkled her nose at me then smiled. I closed my eyes
and put them all out of my mind.

“I invoke the light of the Power within us to
illuminate our actions and to ease our thoughts. May we channel
Your will and bring peace.” Judith lit one of the bundles over the
stone bowl and blew on it, extinguishing the flames but letting the
tips smolder. With a feather she brought some of the smoke towards
her body. She then took the sage and walked up to each of us, using
the feather to push smoke around us. She lit four more bundles then
told us to split into groups of two. “Walk into every room and
closet and waft the smoke into all the spaces. Move around each
room from left to right. Try to keep your minds clear, thinking
only of cleansing and release.”

“Laney, I’d like you to go upstairs with me
so you can show me all the places where you’ve had experiences,”
Emmett requested, indicating I go ahead of him.

My mother and aunt went towards the study,
Connie and Dean went towards the stairway to the basement, and
Judith and Glen stayed in the living room. Melanie gave Emmett and
me a sullen look and plunked herself down on the couch. Apparently
she didn’t want to play if the game wasn’t going her way. “I’ll
stay here with Judith,” she said.

Emmett motioned for me to go first up the
stairs. “Have you done this sort of thing before?” I asked him
nervously, trying not to think of the view he would have. It
reminded me that I needed to start working out, lunges or squats or
something.

“I have,” he began tentatively.

“And? Does it work? Or is this just a bunch
of smoke and mysticism?”

“I don’t like to judge anything too harshly,
because I think there are a lot of things in the world that we
don’t fully understand. And I definitely don’t want to doubt
something when we’re in the middle of doing it. I do believe that
when a group of people come together for a common purpose that
there is a synergy that occurs where the whole is greater than the
sum of its parts. If you add to that the possibility that some
individuals have a greater affinity with the spiritual, then, yes,
I do believe there can be an effect.” We paused as we got near the
top of the stairs. “Connie said you felt something here on the
stairs. Do you remember where it was?”

“It was right about there, about two steps
down.” He moved the sage from left to right several times in the
area. There weren’t enough feathers for everyone so we used our
hands to waft the smoke.

We continued down the hall and into my
bedroom, and I suddenly felt shy. A bedroom is such an intimate
place and I felt uncomfortable being there with someone I was so
attracted to.

“Wow, you guys have made a lot of progress
with cleaning the place out,” he said, glancing about the room.

“It’s a lot of work but it’s really been fun.
That reminds me. It would really help us out if you would take
those boxes near the top of the stairs down tonight. They’re things
we are planning to sell.”

“Did you find anything interesting or fun?”
he asked, moving past the bed to start smudging in the far corner
as I followed behind him.

“Yes, all kinds of great girlie stuff. Most
of my grandmother’s things were still in her closet, too—purses,
hats, gloves, clothes. There were other things too. It was
interesting to find some of things my grandfather collected. We
found four boxes of comic books.”

“You’re kidding!” Emmett exclaimed wafting
the smoke above some boxes. “I would love to see those. I’ve
collected comic books since I was a kid. I could help you figure
out the value of them. I’d probably even buy some of them. Don’t
worry, I’m honest to a fault and won’t try to rip you off.” He
winked at me and I felt my blood pressure go up.

“Really? That would be very helpful.”
Anything to spend more time with you, I added silently. I needed to
be careful. I almost said that out loud.

We were almost finished smudging the room
when we heard a thump come from inside my grandmother’s closet.
Emmett put his arm out to stop me from going first and started
walking toward the door. He opened it slowly and we saw a purse
lying on the floor. I flicked on the light and we both walked in.
He leaned down to pick up the purse when the door slammed shut
behind me. I turned and tried to turn the handle but it was
stuck.

“Here let me try. Handing me the sage he had
to brush up next to me to get to the door. The smoke began filling
the small space. I was suddenly sweating again. He got to the door
and started trying to rotate the handle but it wasn’t budging.

“That’s odd. This door needs a key to lock it
so it can’t be that.” He pounded on the edges of the door several
times in an effort to force it open.

Without warning the light went out. I gasped,
dropping the sage and grabbing the back of his shirt. “I know it
sounds crazy but I have a huge fear of the dark, especially in
closed-in places,” I said, struggling to breathe.

“I’m having a little trouble breathing too
with this smoke and you holding my shirt that tight.” He loosened
my hands and turned around to face me, pulled me into his arms and
kissed my forehead. “You’re fine. Don’t worry, we can just yell and
someone will be right up.”

My heartbeat went up but it was no longer
because of the dark. I could feel his chest hard against mine and
could smell his aftershave, the musky aroma having a very different
effect from the sage. I was almost dizzy for a moment when I felt
his lips touch mine tentatively.

My hands went around his back and I pulled
him even closer, returning the kiss more ardently than I expected.
My lips parted and his tongue brushed the tip of mine. I wasn’t
even thinking anymore. I lost myself in the moment, my body
tingling beneath his touch.

Unexpectedly the light was on and the door
was thrown open. “I heard the door slam and then some pounding so I
wondered if something had happened,” my mother said as she and Aunt
Shelly stood there peering in at us. “Oops!” she exclaimed then
slammed the door shut again.

Chapter
Twenty-Five

Emmett and I sprang away from one another,
our eyes blinking in the light. I could hear my mother and aunt
giggling on the other side of the door as they walked away, their
combat boots making a loud retreat across the floor.

“I suppose we should go out there,” Emmett
said, grinning sheepishly at me.

“Yeah, I guess so.” I turned around to find
the sage I’d dropped when the light had gone out and made sure
nothing was catching on fire. I picked it up then heard Emmett open
the door.

“Okay, now what were we doing?” he asked.

“We got locked in the closet. Did you
forget?” I laughed.

“No, of course not. I’m just wondering what
to do next. It feels like we should have cameras and microphones
running full-time here. There is a lot of activity.” His focus was
back on the paranormal, and I wasn’t sure if I should be relieved
or disappointed. At least we didn’t have to talk about what just
happened between us in the closet.

“I’m kind of glad there weren’t cameras in
there, if you know what I mean,” I answered. “Anyway, it sounds
like everyone is gathering in the living room again. We should go
down and see if all the rooms have been covered.” The moment had
passed, and I was disappointed that we would have to go back and
join the rest of the group.

We went downstairs without discussing it
further. I tried to act like nothing had happened but the truth was
that I felt like my whole life had just changed. All of a sudden, I
had possibilities, I had excitement, I had fun. It felt like the
start of something new.

Melanie and Judith were putting on their
coats as we came into the room. Melanie looked like she’d just
eaten a lemon. She didn’t even know that Emmett had just kissed
me.

“Was everything okay up there?” my mother
asked pointedly.

“It was really strange,” Emmett said. “We
went into a closet to inspect a noise we heard and the door slammed
and the light went out. It was the weirdest thing. Then it was like
the door was locked and we couldn’t open it from the inside.
Fortunately, Tess and Shelly heard us and opened the door.”

“Fortunately,” I added, rolling my eyes.

“There was no explanation for it. Afterward,
the door opened and closed without trouble.”

Making a face, I implored my mom and Aunt
Shelly not to say anything else right now, and for once they got
the message, although they couldn’t hold back their smirks and
raised eyebrows.

“We’ll just have to check it out more during
our investigation tonight. Are we done with your part?” I asked
Judith.

“Yep. We got all the rooms, including the
basement. I think this was a success, Laney. I don’t know why, but
I feel such a positive energy right now and I can’t quite put my
finger on it.”

I looked at Emmett, hoping to catch his eye,
but he was busy putting batteries in his EVP recorder. “I think so
too, Judith. Thank you so much for coming over.”

“I can’t promise that we’ve solved everything
here,” Judith said as she walked to the door with Melanie in tow.
“It might just be the beginning of a resolution and I don’t want to
get your hopes up too high, so if you have more trouble just call
me. There are other things we can try if necessary.”

“Thanks again for coming, we appreciate all
the help,” I said as I ushered Judith and Melanie out of the house.
I felt an immense feeling of satisfaction as I closed the door
behind Melanie. You didn’t win today, Mel. Checking to see if
anyone could see me, I did a little dance.

Then, following everyone else who had
gathered in the kitchen, I wondered what Emmett was thinking right
now. Was he sorry he’d kissed me? Was it a spur of the moment thing
that he now regretted? I glanced over at him and he was explaining
something about the equipment to my mother while Aunt Shelly was
putting together some roast beef sandwiches and pouring lemonade.
He was so sexy. I looked at the way his hair hung over his
forehead. He was being so sweet to my mom and aunt. I couldn’t
picture him being as selfish and self-centered as my husband had
been.

We all sat in the kitchen, eating our
informal supper of sandwiches and lemonade, and began discussing
the plan for the night. Taking charge, Emmett spoke. “So we will
split into groups again. I’ll go with Tess and Shelly to the
basement, Dean and Connie you can start upstairs and then Glen and
Laney can start in the living room. Everyone have their
flashlights? This time we’re just going to turn off lights and not
the master switch. We don’t want to have to run to the basement if
things go wrong. That means there will be more ambient noise so
you’ll have to really pay attention to everything around you.” We
all nodded as Emmett continued with some additional technical
details for Dean and Glen.

When we were done eating, we all rose to go
to our places. I picked up a flashlight off the table, feeling off
balance and disappointed that Emmett hadn’t chosen to be with me.
Was he sorry he had kissed me or was I overreacting? I was pretty
sure I was overreacting.

We all started moving to our designated
spots, turning off lights as everyone got into position. Glen
switched off the lamps in the living room and everything went dark.
I turned on my little flashlight and moved to the window looking
out at the neighbor’s house. All the lights were on and I could see
Louise sitting at her kitchen table. It looked like she was reading
something. I wondered how much she could see into our house when
the lights were on at night. It would be interesting to talk to her
again. She might know all sorts of bits about our grandfather’s
life after living next door so many years.

I could see Glen sit down on the couch so I
went and settled into the recliner. He pulled out a recording
device and I zoned out as he started with the same type of
questions as Emmett had said several nights before.

“Is there anyone here with us? We’d love it
if you would tell us your name. Is there something you need us to
do for you?” After each question Glen asked he would wait as if for
the silent answer.