By Paula Bianchi –

“Why are you two standing out here?” Michael asked, buttoning his suit jacket as he strode towards them.

Dobson quickly disappeared from view, when he saw Michael coming. Lucy felt bewildered as to why he left.

“There’s so much to tell you, Dad.” Emma began. “But the reason why we’re talking out here, is because there’s a dark spirit in our house, and we don’t want him to hear us. He followed me home from Stacy’s after we played with a Ouija board.” She explained.

Michael stood there for a moment in complete silence just staring at the both of them.

Lucy knew right away he wanted to dismiss it. She could feel the struggle within him. She knew, without a doubt, this was going to be the most challenging day of his life, and she was curious as to how he was going to handle it.

“A dark spirit in our house?” Michael tried his best to be open, but he was having a hard time masking the sound of skepticism in his voice. “How do you know this?” He asked.

“Kat told me.” Emma heard the doubt in his voice. “She’s a psychic, Dad.” She added, feeling him out to see if he believed in psychics.

Staring at her husband, Lucy remembered how he felt about psychics from when she was alive. Michael poo pooed them whenever he had the chance. He always had a snide comment about the psychics he would see on the ghost shows she watched with Emma.

“You’re a psychic.” Michael said, trying to sound completely neutral.

“Yes. I am.” Kat responded with confidence, as she squared her shoulders for a battle, she has fought for most of her life. Because of this, she was beyond the point of having to prove herself to anyone. She was done with that.

Lucy knew his reaction to this was going to set the stage for how he would respond to the news that Emma was psychic too, so she floated closer to him and whispered in his ear, “Michael, please believe.”

Suddenly, Michael visibly shivered and reached up to rub the goose bumps on the back of his neck, then, he placed his hand on his chest and felt his heart beating faster. Looking at the red headed woman standing in front of him, his gut pushed him to have faith in her.

“When did you know you were psychic?” Michael asked, as a spiritual calmness, he had never felt before, washed over him.

“Ever since I can remember, I’ve seen spirits all around me.” Kat shared. “I was lucky because my mother and grandmother had the gift, so they began to school me at a very early age.” She explained.

Michael smiled and seemed to be genuinely intrigued. Lucy was grateful to feel the last of his walls of doubt come crashing down. It left her feeling ecstatic knowing she was the catalysis to his open mind.

Lucy glanced over at Emma, and the look on her face filled her heart. She couldn’t hide how pleased she was with her father’s reaction to Kat. It just paved the way for Emma to feel accepted by him.

“Did Emma get a chance to tell you about the stuff breaking around the house?” Michael put his arm around Emma’s shoulders and pulled her close.

“She didn’t need to tell me because I witnessed it for myself, and I’m afraid it’s worse than I thought.” Kat tucked the strands of hair, that were blowing in the breeze, behind her ears. “Now, we’re dealing with a poltergeist that’s being controlled by the dark entity that followed Emma home.” She explained. “When you go inside, you’ll see exactly what this thing is capable of.”

Kat couldn’t hide the sound of concern from her voice because she knew this was not going to be an easy fix. She would have to use all the spiritual tools she had to get this negative spirit out of the house.

Lucy heard Kat’s concerns loud and clear and it caused her much trepidation. She felt very worried about the safety of her family.

“Who followed Emma home?” Michael asked, his fathering instincts kicking into gear.

“Your wife told me his name is Carl. He came through a Ouija board pretending to be Lucy.” Kat informed him.

“You’re talking to Lucy?” Michael’s voice trailed off, as he ran his fingers through his short black hair. “I’m having a hard time believing that.” He said, sounding a bit forlorn. 

“Ask me something only you and Lucy know.” Kat was more than happy to reconnect a husband with his wife.

“What happened to me just before our interview?” Michael smiled, when he realized his daughter knew what he was trying to validate.

“He’s talking about the sign I left for him.” Lucy shared. “Tell him I put our wedding rings in front of our wedding photo, and I played our song on the CD player.” Lucy bounced up and down with excitement because she was actually talking to her husband again.

“She said she put your rings in front of your wedding picture and played your song.” Kat relayed the message.

Tears began to well up in his eyes, but Michael kept them in check. Lucy felt she should emphasize this moment by wrapping her arms around him, and when she did, it gave him the goose bumps again.

Emma recognized what he was feeling, and she felt compelled to hug him too. In that tiny space of time, they were all connected again causing a sensation of euphoria to course through them and charged their energy with pure love.

“I can feel Mom; can you feel her too, Dad?” Emma asked, as she squeezed him a little harder.

All Michael could do was nod his head in agreement because he was so overcome by the emotions of feeling Lucy’s energy again. The tears he had been holding back for nearly a year finally broke free and trailed down his cheeks.

After a few minutes, they let go of each other. Emma looked over at Kat, who in turn, gestured her encouragement to share with her dad what she had discovered about herself.

“I learned something about myself today, Dad.” Emma nervously began. “I found out that I’m psychic too.” She said, wringing her hands as she braced herself for his reaction because of the things she had heard him say in the past.

Wiping the last of his tears away, Michael quickly glanced at Kat, and when he did, she just smiled, with a twinkle in her green eyes, then nodded her confirmation.

Lucy instantly tuned into Michael’s thoughts, which were all over the place, so she tried to help him to focus on what mattered the most. Believing and supporting his daughter.

“Well, I always told your mother that you were special.” Michael scooped her up in a big bear hug causing Emma to giggle like she did when she was much younger. “My little girl is a psychic.” He said, like an affirmation.

“Kat said she would teach me how to use and control my gift.” Emma beamed. There was no doubt that she was more than eager to learn.

“One of the first things I want to teach her is how to get rid of Carl and his poltergeist.” Kat said.

“What a coincidence that the housekeeper we hired is also a ghost hunter.” Michael gave a little chuckle. “Right when we’re in dire need of one.”

“There are no coincidences. Everything happens for a reason, and what we have here is a multiple of reasons why we have come together.” Kat sounded like she knew what these reasons were, but it was obvious that she wasn’t going to share them.

Lucy tried to connect with Kat, so she could see some of the reasons they were brought together, but she felt an electrical wall come down between them blocking her from seeing what they were.

“So, what do we need to do to get rid of this Carl guy?” Michael asked.

“I had a plan, until, I saw what this poltergeist was capable of.” Kat said, with disappointment. “I feel the best course of action would be having my team come and investigate your house.” She waited to see if her new employer would concur especially since he hadn’t seen the mess yet.

“I’m willing to do whatever it takes to help you.” Michael said, without any hesitation.

‘Who is this guy, and where is my husband?’ Lucy thought as she watched the scene in front of her. She was very happy with what she was seeing because she knew this was going to bring Michael and Emma closer and strengthen their bond. ‘If only, Justin could be a part of it too.’ She wished.

“Good. I’ll talk with them tonight to see when they’ll be available. Until then, try not to think or talk about Carl and his poltergeist, while you’re in the house.” Kat gave them a heads up. “Let’s go in so you can see the mess for yourself.” She said.

As they were walking back to the house, Kat and Lucy kind of hung back behind them.

“Your husband took all of this much better than I sensed he would.” Kat seemed very impressed. “It’s not often when you find a guy like that.” She sounded like this was coming from a place of experience.

“You’re right. This is a big turnaround for him, and it’s exactly what our daughter needs at this point in her life.” Lucy’s face shone with pride for Michael’s handling of the situation.

When Michael opened the door, he couldn’t believe his eyes. All of the glass shades, on the entry hall light fixture that hung from the ceiling, were broken, and the collection of figurines, that Lucy inherited, were all gone except for one that remained untouched.

Turning to look into the living room, Michael saw a paper mess of what was left of the magazines that sat on the coffee table, then, he noticed the paintings that were missing from the walls and tossed to the floor.

“Wait until you see the kitchen, Dad.” Emma led the way through the dining room and into the kitchen.

Upon entering the room, Michael stopped in his tracks because he was not expecting to see anything like this.

“I closed all the drawers and cabinets, when, I came in here to put the groceries away.” Kat shared.

“It did all of this?” Michael asked, as he gestured towards the huge mess.

“Yep.” Kat simply stated, then, she put her hand up to silence him from talking about it any further. “Not here. Shall we get busy?” She asked, as she began to pick things up.

Without speaking another word to each other, they all got busy cleaning up the paranormal mess.

Suddenly, the sound of the front door slamming shut echoed throughout the house.

“What happened in here?” Justin asked, with a shocked expression on his face, as he joined them in the kitchen.

“I’ll tell you all about it outside when we’re done cleaning this mess up.” Michael said.

Kat immediately stopped what she was doing and just stared at Justin.

“You remember our new housekeeper, Kat?” Emma asked her brother.

“Sure. Nice to see you again.” Justin said, as he slowly began to back his way out of the room.

Without saying a word, Kat just grinned and lifted her hand to wave hello.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Michael stopped him.

“My girlfriend’s mom invited me over for dinner. I promised her I would go.” Justin stood there waiting to hear his father’s response.

“That’s fine with me, but you need to help out too, so please clean up the living before you go.” Michael instructed, as he waited for his son to make some kind of excuse to leave.

At first, Justin opened his mouth to object, but he knew it would not be in his best interest to do so. Instead, he dutifully turned around and headed into the living room to actually do as he was told.

Kat made eye contact with Lucy and motioned for her to follow. “I’m going to start the last load of laundry.” She said, before she quickly retreated.

Once they were alone in the laundry room, Kat looked at Lucy with so much concern on her face.

“What’s wrong?” Lucy asked.

“Your son is doing drugs.” Kat stated, as a matter of fact.

“I know.” The sound of Lucy’s sadness lingered in the air.

“We need to help him quit, or his negative energy will hinder our ability to make the poltergeist leave.” Kat’s worried tone of voice punctuated her statement.

Come back next week to see how Carl reacts to Kat’s investigation. Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate your visit. Bye for now.

Email: Remyel@hotmail.com

Picture courtesy of: Pexels.

If you’d like to read Lucy’s story from the beginning, click on this link: Lucy in the Afterlife: The Beginning.