The Calling: A Paranormal Mystery Vol. I (13 page)

“Clearly I’m here on this earth for everyone’s amusement!” Lizzy said completely embarrassed.

“Lizzy, it will be fine.  Go to the Royal Crown and have some fun with ‘Officer Dan’.  I think its ok for him to know where you live. You’ll be able to cut your date off by 10:00 o’clock if you want by saying you have to work.  You’ve set it up nicely.  You will be fine, but give the guy a chance already!” 

Lizzy nodded and shrugged her shoulders, “I’ll do my best.”

“Listen, I know you’re dying to get off this subject so let me talk to you about something that’s been bothering me for quite some time.  I felt weird telling you, or anyone for that matter because I thought maybe I was just letting my imagination get away with me.  Now, after hearing your story, I feel a little better telling you my weird secret.  I think I’ve got something going on at the house.”

Lizzy sat straight up and leaned forward instantly intrigued, “Really?  What is it?”

Jennifer lowered her voice.  “This has been going on since I moved in last year with Gary.  There is something in the corner of the bedroom.  It’s like a dark, shadowy mass.  I can tell its there because it blocks the lights from the window.  That’s the best way I can describe it.  I wake up at night quite often to go the bathroom and  when I get up and walk to the bathroom, it rushes to follow me to the door.  At first, I thought it was my imagination even though I had the creepiest feeling, I just tried to ignore it.  Lately, I’ve begun to feel intimidated by it.  I’m getting so freaked out that I won’t get up now.  I just look at it from my bed when I wake up and decide if I want to deal with the challenge.”

“I just can’t believe you didn’t tell me this a long time ago,” said Lizzy.

“I know, but it’s not something you just bring up in casual conversation.”

“When have WE ever had casual conversation?”  Lizzy said rolling her eyes.

“I didn’t know how to bring it up.  Even now, trying to describe the feeling and the situation is difficult.  If I tell the wrong person they will think I’m crazy and sometimes that impression never goes away.”

“Are you trying to tell me something?” Lizzy said as she grinned back at Jennifer.

“Oh shut up Lizzy!  Everyone knows you’re crazy and they’re fine with it.”

“What?  Does everyone think I’m crazy?” This little tidbit actually alarmed Lizzy for a moment.

“No! I’m kidding, but, you are more complex than most and you are always into something,” Jennifer didn’t feel like calming Lizzy’s insecurities at the moment.

“All right, all right,” said Lizzy. “back to the subject.  Can we go over to your house so I can get a feel for it?”

Lizzy had been to Jennifer’s house many times before.  Her home was tastefully furnished and decorated with brown and maroon colors.  Lizzy had never picked up on anything strange in the house, although she had never been in Jennifer’s room.  Lizzy followed Jennifer home.  She sat quietly on the corner of the bed with her eyes shut. Ten minutes drifted by and she wondered back into the living room and sat down with Jennifer.

“So, it’s almost like,” she paused, “well, I got the impression of a dog.  A big dog like a German Shepherd, black, dark, I see how dark it is.  I don’t get a heavy negative feeling but I don’t really get a positive one either.  All I keep getting is ‘the watcher’,”

Jennifer’s mouth hung open for a brief moment, “I felt that same thing! Why is it racing me to the bathroom door and intimidating me?  This house is only a few years old so why is it here and where did it come from?”

“It’s odd. I definitely get a strange feeling from it. I don’t feel you are in danger, however, I also don’t feel it is a positive energy for you to live with. I got an impression of a kind of soldier type guarding and watching this area.  I don’t know if your house is built on an area that he protected when alive or just what that impression is about.  I’ve been diving in and studying spirit activity and a dark mass has never been a good spirit.  There are some energys that are repeat, like a replay of a of an event.  It is called residual energy and it does not recognize nor acknowledge the living.  It is more like a recording.  Then there are spirits trapped here who have decided for whatever reason not to move on into the light.  Usually there is a mission or need to finish something or fix a situation.  The feeling I’m getting in your room has a really strange vibe to it. I can’t pinpoint it.  I don’t think I can get back over here before Friday to do a blessing. If you want it donet sooner, you could do it yourself.” 

“Huh uh, no, I’ll wait for you,” Jennifer was emphatic. 

“Do you think you will be ok until then?  I can do a blessing and see we’ll see if  we can move it out of here but I can’t guarantee anything.”

“Honestly, I will be fine.  I haven’t had a lot of sleep this last two weeks because of it.  It seems to be escalating and getting more intense.  I keep waking up around 3:00 a.m. and I can see it over there in the corner,” Jennifer pointed back to her room.  “I kind of don’t open my eyes completely anymore. I check to see if it’s there.  It has been there every night this month.  I just can’t drink anything before I go to bed I guess! That will hopefully keep me from needing to go pee in the middle of the night.  A couple more days is not going to kill me,” Jennifer gave Lizzy her big white smile. 

“I think it’s strange that now that I’ve had this paranormal experience, I’m finding out about a lot of other people’s experiences,” Lizzy said as she stood up and walked to the corner of the room where the energy had been revealing itself.

“It is exciting too, isn’t it?” asked Jennifer.  “Maybe it’s just law of attraction,” Jennifer said as she motioned Lizzy back into the kitchen.

“I can’t.  I have to get back to work.  I’m going to Karen’s tonight to try on a couple of dresses for the big date Thursday.”  Her mind was tweaking, pushing, and trying to dial into what was happening in Jennifer’s house.  “Why would he take me to such a fancy restaurant on our first date?”

“Uh, maybe he’s trying to impress you,” Jennifer replied.

“Why though?  The day he met me I had my shirt inside out, hardly any make up, basically I was a mess.   It’s not exactly a top ten list of women’s traits that requires a dinner at the most expensive place in town.  Plus, he’s a cop.  I thought they didn’t make a lot of money to just be throwing around,” Lizzy’s cynical side raised it’s ugly head.  If she could figure a way to get out of this dinner she would but she knew her friends would kill her.

“Lizzy, police officers make a good living.  I’m sure he doesn’t go out like this all the time. He obviously means to make some kind of good impression on you.  Stop analyzing it and just go and enjoy the dinner.”

Lizzy absolutely hated trying on clothes.  She hated shopping more, so she prayed that Karen would have something she could wear.  Dating was not at the top of her list just now.  She had this  new mission calling to her and she wasn’t feeling the least bit romantic.  On the other hand, it wasn’t every day that a man tracked her down for a date. 

Men baffled Lizzy.  Any insecurities she had were exacerbated when she dated.  She never felt pretty growing up or particularly special in any way. It didn’t help that her mother was a stone cold beauty.  Her tall, green eyed mother had always been thin with that ‘California Girl’ build.  Lizzy was, in her opinion, short, medium build (or in her words ‘stocky’) and sort of average-looking in general.  She tried to down play her curvaceous figure.  In her 20’s she decided that maybe she was not a wart on the ass of a pig.  Lizzy remembered that this was a big step for her, this admission that she was not the wart on the ass of a pig. 

Karen knew all the nuances of Lizzy and men after 25 years of friendship.  Karen never understood why Lizzy was so insecure and hard on herself.  She found it ridiculous that her friend was so blind to her own beauty while she always saw the beauty in her friends.  Karen loved Lizzy and saw Lizzy in a much different light than Lizzy saw hereself.  Lizzy’s almond-shaped, hazel eyes and a bright smile could disarm almost anyone.  Her sharp wit occasionally got her into hot water.  She was downright hilarious when she relaxed.  The problem was, she had a terrible time relaxing, especially on a date. 

Karen never thought of her as “stocky”.  Lizzy’s hour glass figure fit well on her 5’4” frame.  Karen knew she had always wanted to be a tall, leggy blond.  “Get over it, we can’t all be models,” Karen would tell her.  “Bleach your hair and shut up already!”

The funny thing about Lizzy is she always was hard on herself regarding her shape and thought she looked bigger than she actually was.  She and Karen wore the same size clothes and Lizzy just adored everything about Karen. She thought Karen always looked great and when Karen complained about her size, Lizzy would tell her she was crazy. Karen wondered how those two thought processes could exist in one person.  How was it that Lizzy completely could not see herself? 

Karen could see that men liked Lizzy but Lizzy was oblivious.  When a man did flirt with her she either completely missed the cues or she fell apart like a 13 year old on their first date.  Karen didn’t understand it and love Lizzy in spite of her goofy behavior.  Lizzy had seemed to gain some confidence over the last two years.  Her last breakup made something snap and she sought counseling.  Karen had noticed some good changes that came out of that experience.

Lizzy took pride in her appearance.  She dressed conservatively with a flare of color and big jewelry.  She had never gone in for manicures, pedicures and facials.  It all seemed girlie and superfluous.    It was all too much trouble to keep up, and it was darn expensive.  She did enjoy a massage every few weeks, which was one indulgence she allowed herself on a regular schedule.  She finally had found a hairstyle that was truly blow dry and go.  Lizzy’s impatience and constant drive was a thread through her life.  Spirituality, loyalty and genuine love of her friends were other important threads woven into the design of her complex personality.  Her compassionate heart seemed to get her hurt easily, although with age she was beginning to toughen up.  In fact, now she seemed to lean a little more toward cynicism, especially where it came to love and relationships.  She had not felt successful in her choices in men and found that when younger, she had fallen in love too easily and expected too little.  She understood the choices she made had deeper psychological roots. 
You marry your parents
she thought, 
and it is a damn shame we recreate painful patterns throughout our lives until we mend the wounds.
  She had not been married, but had a few long term, live-in relationships that ultimately didn’t work out.  Self-esteem issues had plagued her throughout her life and it tended to show up most when she was in relationship. 

She had finally decided after the last break up that maybe she should give up on the whole idea of true love and romance.  Hope springs eternal though, and Lizzy had worked very hard to heal the wounds that had diverted her in her life. Karen wasn’t going to let her run away either.  She was a hopeless romantic!  Lizzy hoped she might choose better since she had spent some time after her last break up in therapy. She did feel stronger and more balanced. It all made her wonder if ‘Officer Dan’ was someone who would evolve into something more than a first date? 

“Shake it off Lizzy, don’t get sucked in!  It’s a date…
A D-A-T-E, that’s it,” she said aloud as she stepped up to Karen’s door.

Thank goodness, Karen’s closet yielded a perfect little black dress.  Lizzy arrived home around midnight and still felt keyed up.  She took one more look at the dress, held it up in front of her, looked at it in the mirror and gave it another stamp of approval and then hung it carefully in the closet. Her ‘dress’ problem solved, her thoughts turned back to Jennifer. Her tight chest and stomach alerted her that she felt anxious about Jennifer’s situation.  She didn’t want to wait to do the blessing, but had something going on every night of the week until Friday. She felt selfish and that made her feel bad.  Should she have cancelled her date with Dan and helped her friend instead?  Jennifer would have thought her ridiculous for even thinking it. 

Lizzy tossed and turned unable to get comfortable or settle into sleep.  She sighed, every time she looked at the clock, just to discover 15 minutes more had passed, 1:15 a.m., 1:30 a.m., 1:45 a.m.  
This is absolutely maddening
, she thought.  Finally, at 2:30 a.m. she turned on the light and sat up in bed.  She prayed for Jennifer’s safety and meditated on Jennifer and her family.  She decided to do a remote house blessing. 

Not knowing if it would work, she figured something would be better than nothing.  She learned remote energy healing through her Reiki certification courses. In her studies to gain more insight spiritually, Lizzy had been ordained as a minister twice.  The first time, she was enrolled in the Hypnotherapy Institute and at the conclusion of her certification was ordained through the school.  The second time she was ordained through her mentor’s church.  She attended a rigorous year long, Ordination course of study which included gaining a certification as a Reiki Master. 

Reiki, a powerful form of healing energy work, created a positive connection to the creator and flowed through the practitioner through to the subject.  A Reiki Master is taught to perform energy work remotely.  Lizzy had performed Reiki at a distance but never had tried anything like this.  She made her mind quiet and began to pray. She imagined Jennifer’s house in as much detail as possible as though she were there.  She did her blessing and admonished any negative spirit or energy to leave the home.  Lizzy imagined walking through Jennifer’s house and performing the prayer and blessing in each room.  She placed Reiki symbols of power, emotional healing and protection, in the corners of each room before she left for the next room. She blessed Jennifer’s bedroom last.  When she entered the room she brought down a stream of light from the heavens and surrounded her friend and her husband in a ball of light as they slept.  She asked for protection and then blessed the room.  Lizzy commanded that the “Watcher” to leave and did command it in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  She always brought a blessing in from the “Mother” as well because it never felt balanced in her mind if she didn’t.  She stayed mentally in the room as the next half hour passed. Finally, at the end, she brought in a very powerful clearing Reiki symbol and put it in the corner of the bedroom where the spirit had been living.  She finished with an “Amen.” 

It was 4:00 a.m. and she didn’t care.  She felt so much better.  There had been a gnawing feeling all day that the issue needed to be addressed immediately.  She didn’t know if the Reiki energy worked or if what she did had any effect but felt lighter now that she had prayed for her friend’s protection. 
Hopefully that will hold her until Friday when I can get there and do a formal blessing
, thought Lizzy as she snuggled into her pillow.  She glanced at the clock one more time, 4:05 am.
Please let me fall asleep quickly
. 

Tuesday, Lizzy’s back to back appointments and evening training class pushed her arrival home past 8:00 p.m.   Wednesday morning she found a moment and called Jennifer. 

“Hey Jen, how’s it going?”

“Really good, Chickade!  How did the dress search go?” Jennifer was ready for plan B emergency shopping if Lizzy hadn’t found a dress at Karen’s. 

“I found one, thankfully! It’s a nice little black number, it should be just fine,” Lizzy loved how considerate and caring   Jennifer always seemed. 
She’s worried about my dress when she has some dark mass roaming around her bedroom!  She is a true friend.

“Enough about me, I wanted to call and see how things are in the bedroom,” said Lizzy.

“Well, I never!” Jennifer laughed loudly.  “What did you want to know about exactly?  I am assuming you don’t want naked details.”

“Oh my God! I don’t want any naked details whatsoever you kook! I’m talking about the dark thing in your bedroom not your husband!”  Jennifer always knew how to get her going. 

“Actually,” Jennifer said in a low serious tone, “It’s gone.”

“What do you mean it’s gone?  How can you be sure?”

“I’ve been living with this thing for months.  It’s gone I tell you.  The room feels better, no being chased to the loo, no dark shadow thing in the corner, it’s gone.  I woke up to go pee Monday night and checked around and it was gone.  Last night, same thing, woke up as usual around 3:30 am and it was not there. I could see all the lights coming in the window and I was not met at the bathroom door by Dark Fido!”

“That is actually pretty exciting because I stayed up Monday night. I couldn’t sleep; I was so worried about you.  I prayed and did a ‘spiritual walk through’ of your home.  After we talked, I just had an uneasy feeling I could not shake.  I couldn’t get over there until Friday, so I decided to pray for your protection and I did an a remote walk through blessing of your home. I used Reiki energy and around 4:00 a.m. called it a done deal. I was hoping it would help somehow since Friday seemed decades away!”

“Whatever you did, worked! I feel so much better and even though I still woke up at 3:30 am, I was able to go right back to sleep. I slept soundly for the first time in months.  Last night I had the same pleasant experience.  Thank you so much Lizzy!”

“Maybe I can come with you on some of your cases,” Jennifer said.  She wanted in on the action. 

“Cases?  I don’t have cases! I did help with the Sunday Stewart incident simply because it affected Karen first. I wanted to help you because you are dear to me and I can’t have shadowy figures roaming around your room, if I can help stop it.   I certainly don’t have cases!” Lizzy tantalized by the idea knew she did want “cases”. 

“You want to be a ghost hunter, Jennifer?” Lizzy said with a little sarcasm in her tone.

“I want to help and I’m fascinated by it all,” Jennifer replied, ignoring the tone.

“Ok, but you weren’t even willing to do your own house blessing without me being there.  So, you are telling me that you are willing to go into strangers’ houses to seek out paranormal issues?” 

“So? It’s different when it’s your own…haunting,” Jennifer said.  She felt justified in the apprehension she felt doing her own blessing. 

“I’ve been tormented for months by that thing.  I didn’t feel strong enough, I guess, to handle it myself.  I’m not sure I even knew I could do something until we talked.  I think it is a perfect example of why you need to continue this work.”

“What do you mean?” Lizzy asked.

“Well, I’m a normal every day person who found myself in a strange situation that I didn’t know how to handle it.  The we talked and I felt some hope.  I’m sure there are others out there who are going through the same emotions and confusion.”

“I agree that it is different when it is happening to you.  Karen was with Janet and I when we kind of got sucked into ‘Sunday’s case’ if you will.  We finished with it and Karen announced that she is not interested in pursuing any type of ghost or paranormal investigating.”

“Why?” Jennifer was baffled that Karen didn’t want to be part of something so spectacular.

“She feels like there is too much drama and risk.  After the experience with Sunday’s spirit attaching to so many different people, she doesn’t want to take the chance of accidently bringing something home.”

“Hmmm, I do see her point but I think the opportunity to help people and souls, outweighs that for me. Aren’t there ways for us to protect ourselves from things attaching to us?”

“I don’t know all the in’s and out’s, Jennifer.  I would think as long as we bless ourselves and ask for strength and protection, we should be able to ward off hitchhikers.  That said, I’m no expert on this.  I’ve only started researching the subject deeply this last month or so when all this happened. I don’t want to endanger anyone or cause something to happen where a spirit attaches to them and then torments them or their family.  That’s a lot of responsibility.” 

“In other words, proceed at your own risk,” said Jennifer.

“Yes,” said Lizzy, her excitement growing with the thought of having Jennifer on board.