Unexpected Reality: Book 1: Gamer Girl

by L. Foster

  'Birds and the bees pal, birds and bees.' He continued with a wide grin appearing on his face.

  'Stand to reason. A beautiful woman, twenty-something, painfully shy, very reserved staying in her dad's mansion. She doesn’t go out which means she has neither men nor women to speak of. The old man had concerns of the paranormal invading his daughter’s bedroom! Instead of thinking more about her well-being. If you know what I mean.'

  Phil was clearly irritated. 'Please don't tell me you met her on that message board thing! What was it? Bob's List or something?'

  'Don't knock it! 'Chris jumped in. 'I mean; do you blame her? She's in the prime of her life and ...a girl needs attention, especially pretty ones....'

  'But Lord Winchester?' Phil shakes his head.

  'Whatever his name is. He doesn't know women! How can he! Sees her as his precious young daughter in cotton wool. His wife passed away long ago. Dare say if she was around, things may have been different. I did her a favor.

  'Just saying!' Phil went quiet, looking at the tape again. After a short while, he asked Chris if he was sure he really wanted to present a fake 'haunted findings'. Chris was a sweet-talker and had soon begun to allay his fears.

  'Don't worry. If we convince him the place is haunted and the ghost is harmless. We can continue seeing each other. For a while at least. If all works out, then I'll introduce myself. No point in being hasty about these things' Chris grinned again.

  'Your call mate. But in my books you ought to have done the decent thing, gone to see her old man'

  'Sure. Whatever. Blimey, you going soft on me. Think Cal's religion has rubbed off on you too much pal, I have needs and so does she. We're both adults. I don't think Lord Winchester would appreciate the expected, “Hi Lord Winchester, don't know you, but I got a thing for your precious daughter. Please, could I bang her regular like, at least till we know things are gonna work out? Oh, by the way, she's ok with it.”'

  Phil conceded to being old school and Chris only pointed out the impossibilities of a formal approach working out between him and Lord Winchester. He basically requested that Phil left him to do what he wanted to do the way he wanted to do it. Chris sat in his car seat. A small spring poked into his rear and three more joined poking into his thighs.

  'Fine. We'll do it your way!' Phil said as he got out of the car.

  The two made their way up the driveway. 'Here goes nothing...' Phil knocked.

  The door knocker was old Victorian style and looked more silly than sinister next to the modern brick home. There was a lawn gnome guarding the front door. Bird shit covered its head.

  'Mister Green and Mister Mills. What a pleasure. Won't you come in?' Lord Winchester met them. He was dressed in a pair of house slippers, a smoking robe, and a full suit underneath it all.

  The two entered the house. It looked like a mixture of nouveau riche and rummage sale. A garden gnome, matching the one out front sans the bird shit, held a tray in its hand. On the tray was an assortment of spirits. They walked past the gnome and entered into the kitchen area where Penny Winchester was preparing a green drink. Neither Chris nor Phil knew what was in the drink. Best not risk it, Phil thought. She was younger than Chris. But Chris was right on one thing; she was pretty.

  'Good morning, boys.' Penny Winchester said as she closed her nightshirt up to no avail. 'Like a cup?'

  'Sorry Luv, would but...we're on a diet. Thank you though.' Phil said.

  'Both of you on a diet? At the same time?' remarked Lord Winchester.' Come, come, it’s not as bad as it looks.'

  'It's a support system really. I don't need to lose weight, but Mr. chubby here can drop a few stone, eh?' Phil said with a bit of sarcasm directed at Chris.

  'A few stone? Really? Is that what you think?' Chris asked.

  Phil hushed him playfully and moved straight to address the reason for their visit. They had come to discuss their findings on the haunting matter.'

  'So, you found it? You found the ghost that haunts my daughter’s room?' Lord Winchester asked.

  'We believe so sir' Phil began. 'Indisputable evidence that your house is…'

  'One hundred per cent haunted!' Chris cut in and continued. 'It's awesome! Things were flying around. We were barely able to record sound. The footage on the cam didn't come out. Shame really, it would have been good!'

  Penny Winchester gasped in feigned surprise. But she let a smile and wink escape to Chris.

  'Fantastic'. Lord Winchester uttered, hands clasped with glee.

  'Aha. Just as well I doubled up on surveillance. Expensive I know, but anything for my Penny.

  'Huh?' Chris was puzzled. But Phil was praying he hadn't just heard what he thought he'd heard.

  Lord Winchester first apologized for not mentioning he had called in another team after Phil and Chris to investigate as Penny had become so confused and scared and he just couldn't watch the torment continue without doing much about it. He told them the team had fitted some covert night cameras and had the feed sent through a network. He kept apologizing for no particular reason and praised the sophistication of modern technology that had allowed for such to be possible. He told Phil and Chris not to worry about their reimbursements as he planned to settle that still.

  Penny's face looked blank. She looked at Chris. Chris's face was blank as well. They both turned to look at Phil. Phil's face was one of having had a revelation.

  A sudden knock at the door broke the sudden silence of the group.

  'Ah... Hopefully, it's them.' Lord Winchester went back to the front door and opened it expectantly. Chris, Phil and Penny could hear some conversation at the door. Phil told the group he had a bad feeling about what was going on.

  Within a few moments, Lord Winchester was back with two casually dressed men who appeared to be smarter than Chris and Phil.

  'Chaps, this is Guy and Jeremy. They work for Cyber Hunters isn't it?' Lord Winchester looks to the two men for confirmation. The two men smiled. Guy had blonde curly hair in a mullet and a bushy moustache. He was burly, as most guys named Guy usually were. Jeremy wore his hair crew. His forearm was hairy, and across his right knuckle tattooed in gentle pink roses a word was spelt. The word was KILL. It was hard to miss.

  'Right chaps, do you have the recording?' Lord Winchester’s excitement was glaring. He was like a child waiting to unwrap a Christmas present.

  Guy took out a DVD disk from the inside of his jacket pocket. Phil was now convinced that the show before them certainly wasn’t looking good.

  Lord Winchester took the disc towards a DVD player by an entertainment center. He inserted the disc and pressed the play button.

  'I think I left some equipment in the car. I'll be heading...' Chris said.

  Lord Winchester looked up from the scene on the screen and over to Penny Winchester.

  The screen showed two thermal images. One looked male, the other female. It was hard to tell. But what helped the viewer make an accurate determination was a 7-8-inch bright red rod that was attached slightly lower to one of the hips that wobbled up and down in motion with the walking movement of one of the figures. The other figure had two pear shaped pink blobs that were attached to its chest. All good visual clues.

  However, what made Lord Winchester instantaneously forget his recently found pacifist Buddhist faith was the way the two figures fell on top of one another on the ground, rather aggressively. The top figure seemed to be using the 7-8-inch rod in some intense thrusting motion to the other figure’s hips. It made interesting viewing.

  Guy and Jeremy smiled. They had a habit of doing that.

  Lord Winchester distanced himself from his daughter and took a step towards Chris. 'You swine! How dare you!'

  'Err. I can explain that.' Chris said as he backed up towards the door, his arms were shaky.

  'I'll give you ghost! You bounder! Lord Winchester turned and walked out to the landing. He opened a door space under the stairs and began to retrieve an old hunting rifle.

  'About our fe
es, I think we'll wavier it on this occasion.' Phil said as he started edging towards the door.

  'Yes, first one's on us' Chris collaborated with Phil's sudden generosity and was now racing him for the exit.

  Penny Winchester feigned surprise. She did a lot of feigning. Then her eyes settled on Guy and Jeremy, and she fluttered her eyelids and added a cute smile. Guy and Jeremy smiled. They did do that a lot.

  What happened next was not clear, but Chris and Phil agreed that they had never left a property in quicker time. Phil was nice enough to remind Chris of how he had warned him earlier as his friend floored the pedal and sped away.

  'Wait till Cal hears this one. You do like life the hard way. Keep your libido in your pants next time'. Phil berated Chris though he knew it wouldn't be heeded. Chris was that type of guy.

  'Don't worry, your secret's safe with me' Phil sighed.

  'Thanks mate. I owe you one'

  'The things I do. The things they say I do' Phil couldn’t help but repeat. He asked Chris what their next line of action would be while he unwrapped a stick of gum, and began to chew.

  As they made the distance between the Winchesters and themselves, Chris told him he had received a call from someone who thought his house, which he bought as a property to flip, was haunted at Rose Wood or Rose Venue. Chris wasn’t sure of the address anymore, but they were going to check it out.

  Chapter 35

  Laura sat by her dresser. It had a simple design of softwood painted over with a green background and small red cherries. She had gotten it from a moving sale. She had loved the tri-fold mirror top. It reminded her of what her Nan had when she was little.

  Laura brushed her hair and was trying to work out a knot while she began her soliloquy.

  'A cute couple! Oi, that Billy will be the death of me. I should have known better to take Henry to a place like that. We should have just grabbed something at the pub.

  'Oh well, what's done is done. I suppose. Much like this bloody knot.'

  Laura held one end of hair with her hand and then ran the brush through again. Her head tilted to the side with the force of the brush holding against the knot.

  'If you don't behave, I will have to get the scissors and cut you right out. So, you just keep this up and see who's laughing soon!' Her self-inspired theatrics was apparently keeping her company.

  Despite the threat, the knot wouldn't yield.

  'That's it. I'm getting the big brush out. You'll be sorry.' Laura said and tried to pull the brush from her hair. It wouldn't budge as it was thoroughly stuck in the knot. She turned to get a spray bottle from her dresser. The brush held in place without her touching it and then it yanked forcefully out.

  Laura turned her head towards the mirror and put her hand towards her hair feeling a slight but sharp pain. Behind her, the reflection of a motionless girl stared back. The girl's hair was dark and her skin was paler than Laura's. The eyes looked to be only pupils with no pigmentation at all. The girl smiled and maggots crawled around her gums where the teeth would normally be.

  Laura spun around sharply in shock. Her brush hitting the floor. It lay motionless with a wad of Laura's hair stuck to its bristles. The girl was gone, but a chill went through Laura. Turning back to the mirror, red lipstick scrawled a single word on the pane.

  'Friend'

  'Leave me alone! Leave me alone!' Laura screamed.

  Chapter 36

  Henry sipped his tea. He looked over the room he was in. Everything seemed to be in order. Everything in its own place. He then looked through the open kitchen door and saw a small disaster area.

  'You said this happened all in one day?' Henry asked.

  'Yeah. Things started after Rose-View. I'm pretty sure. I felt like rubbish in the morning and just couldn't get out of bed most of the day. And when I did finally get out of bed.... well...' Matthew stops and looks to Jenny, then to the ground. He's hesitant, trying not to say more.

  'Well, what?'

  'I'd rather not talk about it. Let's just say it's messed up. Messed up with a side order of therapy.'

  Jenny was next to ask questions. She was more concerned about how Matt's little trip to Rose-View might have caused the strange occurrence they just witnessed. She had thought the house wasn't even haunted and even if it were, she never knew ghosts could follow people home.

  Henry looked at Jenny and then back to Matthew. He knew Matthew wasn't telling the whole story. Not about this and not about Rose-View.

  'There are the odd exceptions.' Henry said.

  'Odd exceptions?' Jenny asked.

  'You mean that attachment thing you talked about?' Matthew said.

  'Not saying that's what it is, but there's a strong possibility. Are you sure you saw nothing at that house?'

  'I was pretty tired that night. I think I must have hallucinated a bit.'

  'Does this look like a hallucination to you, Matthew?' Henry asked pointing at the kitchen.

  'It was nothing.'

  Jenny immediately swung into anger. She blamed Matthew for bringing whatever it was he brought to her house. Henry tried to calm her down. His argument was quite reasonable. He asked Jenny not to dangerously assume that Matt was the one who brought the problems to her house and not the other way round.

  Jenny was confused. 'What do you mean?'

  'What I mean is, maybe something was already attached to Matthew. Mind if I look around?'

  Matthew shrugged at Henry and gave him the approval that wasn’t really necessary. Besides, he was called to see if he could provide the right answers. He most certainly was going to check around.

  The three started towards the upstairs. There were pictures littered over the stairwell. Most of the frames had broken and Henry's shoes crunched over the glass. When the three finally got to the top of the stairs, Henry inhaled deeply.

  'Smell that?' Henry asked.

  'This isn't the time, Henry...' Matthew’s voice was soft.

  'No. Seriously. Do you smell that?'

  'Smells like...' Jenny started.

  'Charring. It smells like Ozone.' Henry said.

  'Is that important?' Jenny asked

  Henry told them paranormal entities could interfere with electrics hence the charred smell. He walked over to the hallway light switch and gave it a flick. When the lights came on, he flicked the switch back off and the lights darkened. With a shrug, Henry opened the bathroom door, but he detected nothing out of place. He then walked over to the office and looked inside. The office looked like another disaster area.

  'No use trying that switch, Henry. The lights are blown.' Jenny said.

  Henry nodded and walked towards the bedrooms. He stopped before entering Matthew’s room.

  'Anything?' Matthew asked.

  'Not that I can see. Nothing current at least. Looks like most of the excitement happened last night.' Henry replied.

  'So...so it's gone then? Good.' Matthew managed to sound a bit less restive.

  'Hold on now, I didn't say that. Listen, entities pop in and out on their own volition. Time doesn't really matter much for them. They come and go as they please. Sometimes they leave for a few hours, days, months, years, whatever. But they never cease all together. Not without some sort of intervention.'

  As Henry explained the situation to his friends, a scream came from the living room downstairs. The three rushed downstairs with Henry in the lead. When he got there, he saw the screams were coming from the television. It had been turned on with the volume at full. The tea they were drinking was arranged in a flower formation on one side of the coffee table. The table itself was seemingly moved over three feet from its original location and the sofa was against the kitchen door.

  Henry turned the television off and continued from where he left off before they heard the scream. He continued his brief lecture by postulating that those entities sometimes returned a lot sooner than years. He picked up his teacup, examined it briefly and held it to the light.

  'Matt... Jenny....do you g
uys mind if I got some of the team here? This is the most activity I've seen in a while.'

  'Anything! Yes. Bring them over!' Jenny's agreement was mixed with fear and urgency.

  'Henry, can you get rid of this thing?' Matthew asked.

  Henry put the tea cup down and looked at his friend with uncertainty. His gaze then shifted to his shoes. He knew he had to be sincere.

  'I don't know, mate. I just don't know.'

  Chapter 37

  Chris walked towards his car carrying his chips. Phil was already waiting inside. The smell of vinegar followed him into his car which only seemed to have angered Phil so much that he rejected the chips Chris had offered out of the kindness of his heart. After a couple more word exchange, he asked Phil if anything happened while he was away and the latter replied in the negative. Chris reminded him ghost hunting in the morning was a boring move.

  'Scientific proof is scientific proof.' Phil lashed out. 'That means it's repeatable, dude. Besides, I thought we'd take a few night hunts off a bit until you stop getting love letters from Winchester.'

  'How did that bird ever get my address anyway?' Chris asked.

  'It's on your business card, dummy.'

  'Oh right! I knew those would pay off! So what do we know about this place?'

  'Big murder inside. Bad feelings. I think this is the one Henry said he investigated before. Can't believe he didn't find anything. Not like him to be sloppy.' Phil added.

  'Right. Henry. Forgot to tell you, he buzzed me the other day.' Chris said.

  'Yeah? What’s cooking?'

  'Apparently he's got a hot one this time. Said it was off the charts and even the Vatican is interested.'

  'Really? What? You mean John Andrew? Must be serious then. What did he say?' Phil asked.

  'Just an old friend of his got himself mixed up into something strange. He's not sure what, but he thinks it’s a bit heavy.'

  'It must be heavy calling in the big guns like that. Say anything else?' Phil said.