By Paula Bianchi –

“Today’s the day.” Dobson whispered, with excitement, as they all huddled together down in the basement.

“Shh.” Lucy placed her finger to her lips in an attempt to quiet him because she didn’t want to ruin all the hard work everyone, the living and the dead, had done to keep greasy Carl in the dark.

“Are you guys going to watch?” Dobson couldn’t help himself. He just had to know.

“Dobson, please, tone down your excitement.” Lucy warned him yet again.

“I’m sorry.” Dobson looked down at his old shoes and gathered himself.

In that moment, Lucy noticed the worried look that passed between Ava and Ben. “What’s wrong?” She asked them.

“Are they going to make us leave too?” Ava asked, in a hushed tone.

“No, they’re not.” Lucy reassured them. “This is still my house, and I say you’re welcome here.” She smiled, but she didn’t get the desired response she was hoping for.

“To make sure, we’ve decided to disappear for a while.” Ava said, slipping her arm through Ben’s. “We don’t want you to worry about us. We’ll back when it’s done.” She said.

Before Lucy could say anything, Ben and Ava faded away making a hasty retreat.

Lucy took Dobson’s hand and led him out of the house to the backyard where they could speak more freely.

“I’m excited too, Dobson, but we’re too close to blow it now.” Lucy tried her best to convey the importance of this investigation tonight.

“I promise I won’t talk about it anymore.” Dobson shoved his hands into the pockets of his blue jeans, and he looked quite contrite.

“Good.” Lucy patted Dobson on the shoulder.

“Why are you excited?” Dobson asked.

“While I was talking to Kat in the laundry room the other night, after the poltergeist tore through the house, she said she could help me get Lori out of Justin.” Lucy beamed. “But she also said it wasn’t going to be easy without Justin’s help. She reassured me, though, that something was going to happen soon that would help get Justin on the right track again. I tried to get her to tell me what was going to happen, but she wouldn’t tell me.” Lucy couldn’t hide her disappointment. Now, her thoughts were filled with helping her son instead of getting rid of Carl and the poltergeist.

“That’s great news!” Dobson clapped. “Because I’ve been meaning to tell you about all of the bad stuff, Justin has been doing with his friends lately.” He sadly reported.

“He has?” Lucy was beside herself. Hearing that, broke her heart.

“Yep. Do you want to hear what he’s been doing?” Dobson volunteered to share what he knew.

“No. Please don’t tell me.” Lucy put her hand up to stop him from revealing that information.

“When will Kat and her team of ghost hunters get here?” Dobson asked, changing the subject.

“Kat should be here anytime now.” Lucy assured him. “She said it would take them a while to set up all of their equipment.”

“Is Michael going to be here too?” Dobson wondered.

“He told Emma he wanted to help out with the investigation which was a total shock to me.” Lucy answered.

It was hard for Lucy to get used to this new and improved Michael, but she felt so proud of her handsome husband for stepping up and supporting their daughter’s new direction in life. Over the past few days, she has watched them growing closer and more bonded than ever before.

Suddenly, the sound of several car doors, opening and closing, echoed from the front yard of the two-story Victorian home.

“They’re here!” Dobson exclaimed, before he disappeared from view.

“Hey! Wait for me!” Lucy quickly evaporated then reappeared in front of the house.

Emma and Michael weren’t home yet, so Kat used her key to let herself, and the other five members of her team, into the house.

“I think we should use the dining room as home base.” Kat said, as she pointed to the room on her right. “We’ll need a camera in every room including the basement and the attic.” She added.

Lucy and Dobson watched, from the front lawn, as the team lugged all of their equipment, from their cars, into the house. They followed the investigators in with their last load. Lucy was amazed at the amount of equipment it took to investigate a haunted house.

The team quickly got to work setting up the cameras, on their tripods, all over the house and carefully running the wires into the dining room to hook them up to the equipment and monitors that were sitting on the dining room table. After all the wires were placed in their slots, one of the team members grabbed a large roll of tape and began to tape down the wires all over the house, so no one would trip over them.

Next, they unpacked the cases, which held, several digital recorders, walkie talkies, and video cameras, a few flashlights, an Ovilus, a couple of Laser Grids, a spirit box, and a couple of strange looking video cameras with small video screens attached to them.

When Lucy saw these cameras, she instantly recognized them as SLS cameras because she had seen them before on her favorite ghost hunting shows. As she hovered in the foyer, with Dobson, watching what was happening below, she couldn’t believe how fortunate she was to have Kat come into her family’s life and her afterlife. Grandma was right; help was on its way.

The sound of the front door opening brought Lucy out of her revere. In walked Emma and Justin, who had just arrived home from school.

“Who are all these people?” Justin asked, sounding a bit confused.

“If you were home more, you’d know because I told you a couple of times that Kat was going to do an investigation, of our house, for ghosts.” Emma reminded him, without bothering to hide the sound of her annoyance.

Lucy floated down from the ceiling to be closer to her kids.

“Well, I don’t want anything to do with this, so I’m leaving.” Justin announced, while taking off his backpack and holding it by the top loop at his side.

“Do whatever you want. Just like you always do.” Emma said, with disgust. “You better be careful, Justin, because everything that you’ve been doing lately, is going to catch up to you.” She warned him.

“Okay, ‘Mom’.” Justin responded, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he bolted for the stairs.

Lucy hated the way Justin was acting. She didn’t recognize him anymore. As she watched him going up the stairs to his room, she suddenly saw Lori’s head pop out of his back, so she could take a look at the ghost hunters, then, she sneered at them, before she pulled herself back into Justin.

“Did you see Lori hanging out of Justin?” Lucy asked.

“Yes. I did.” Dobson answered, in awe.

Emma turned away to go searching for Kat, with Lucy and Dobson following close behind her. She found Kat upstairs in her bedroom setting up a laser grid, making sure that the green dots filled the room.

“Hi, Kat.” Emma said, as she tossed her backpack on her bed. “You’re using a laser grid.” She said, pointing to the gadget Kat was holding.

“You’re familiar with our equipment?” Kat asked, as she made her last adjustment.

“Yes, I am because every Saturday, my Mom and I used to watch all of our ghost hunting shows that we had taped during the week. I really miss that. I haven’t been able to watch them ever since she died.” Emma shared, with a hint of sadness in her voice. “She would’ve loved having you here investigating our house for ghosts.” She smiled.

“I’m one of the ghosts.” Lucy chuckled.

Kat giggled with her.

“What’s so funny?” Emma asked, with a bewildered look on her face.

“Your Mom just laughed and said she’s one of the ghosts.” Kat shared.

At first, Emma was quiet, then, she saw the humor in it and began to giggle too.

“When we make Carl leave, will it make my mom leave too?” Emma asked, full of concern.

“No.” Kat answered simply. “Your Mom isn’t going anywhere. We only ask for the negative spirits, who mean us harm, to leave, and when they’re gone, we have ways to seal them out, so they can never return.” She explained.

“Good.” Emma sounded relieved. “When do we start?” She was excited to be a part of something she has watched on TV for years.

“After we eat.” Kat said. “I ordered enough pizzas for all of us, so you and your dad are welcome to join us.”

Just then, Justin walked by Emma’s door in a hurry, and as he passed by, Lori’s head came popping out of his back again. This time, when she saw that Lucy and Kat were looking at her, she quickly retreated back into her host.

“Did you see that?” Lucy asked, as she pointed towards the empty doorway. “It was Lori!” She exclaimed.

“Yes, I saw her too.” Kat confirmed.

“Who did you see?” Emma wanted to know.

“Let’s just say that’s a lesson for another day.” Kat put off this complicated subject. She looked directly at Lucy and gave her a slight nod as a sign that they would talk about it later.

“The pizza’s here!” Someone called out from the foyer.

“That sounded like my Dad.” Emma said, before she quickly left her room to see if she was right.

“I’m so glad you saw her too. That’s the second time I’ve seen her today. Why is she showing herself?” Lucy remarked with confusion.

“Lori was curious to see what we’re doing here. I’m sure she’s worried that we’ll make her leave as well.” Kat said, as she headed out the door. “Come on. I want to introduce your family to my dedicated team.”

Lucy and Kat joined everyone in the hectic kitchen, and they were all gathered around the island in the center, where the pizza was.

“Hi, Michael.” Kat said, as she entered the room. “Let me introduce you to my team.” She started to her left. “This is Megan.” She gestured towards a petite blonde woman with blue eyes. “She’s our Occult Specialist and fact finder. She researches our locations to see who may have died on the property.

“Next,” Kat continued clockwise. “is Julie.” She pointed to an average height woman with brown hair and brown eyes. “She’s a Wiccan Priestess, and she also helps Megan with her research.

“This is Scott.” Kat said, pointing to a tall middle-aged man with a short dark beard and brown hair. “He’s an ordained Minister.

“Then, this is Jeff.” Kat gestured to the next guy in line, who wore glasses, was short in stature, and a little pudgy. “He’s in charge of all our equipment, and he watches our investigation on those screens over there.” She pointed to the dining room table where four monitors sat. “Which we call home base.

“And lastly, we have Nick.” Kat said, pointing towards the last person in line, who was tall and dark with his black hair and eyebrows. “He’s our Demonologist.

“Everyone, this is Michael and his daughter, Emma.” Kat finished her introductions.

“You forgot us.” Lucy said, motioning to herself and Dobson.

Kat nodded and smiled as she reached for a paper plate and a couple of slices of pizza.

Lucy tuned into her and distinctively heard, “Later.”

The room fell into conversation with everyone chit chatting away, when suddenly, the sound of a loud thud filled the house, and an ominous energy fell upon them.

“Hurry up and eat, you guys, because it’s time to go to work.” Kat told them, as she scarfed down her last piece of pizza.

Come back next week for part 2 of the investigation. Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate your time. 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.