Now how am I going to prove to her I’m real without scaring her, and spilling that scolding hot tea all over herself? I pondered. Waiting for her to put her hot drink back down, I walked closer to the TV causing it to flicker.
“Bloody reception!” Megs moaned. She grabbed the remote next to her and started flicking channels. As she scrolled through them, I entered the TV and made my image appear on the next channel she flicked to. She kept going through the channels but each channel she flicked to, my image was on the screen.
“What the hell? Is their nothing different on today?” She hit the TV Guide button on her remote and chose the BBC One channel. My image appeared again. “Stupid service. Digital is better than analogue they said! HAH!” She hit the power button and the TV shut off, but my image stayed on the screen. Megs stared at me from her sofa.
“Hello.” I said. Thinking that a one word starter might be best, I realised I had maybe done the wrong thing as Megs stood up suddenly screaming, and threw her cereal bowl at the TV, the bowl still containing the contents of her cereal and milk. Luckily, the bowl couldn’t fight the gravity and it bounced off the edge of the TV stand, missing the screen entirely.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” I cried. “I didn’t mean to frighten you! I won’t hurt you I promise!” I had to calm the situation before it got out of hand I realised.
Megs was backed up on her sofa, legs tucked up to her chin the remote stuck out defensively at me. “What the hell is going on? Am I being stitched up? Is this on the air? How are you talking to me through that?”
I waved my hands in a placating manner. “No, no nothing like that. I can explain if you will let me?” Letting her feel as though she had the choice and the power I decided, might help her feel more in control of the situation. She nodded. “Ok. I think.” She replied, uncertain, the remote still pointing at me.
“You are a member of the noisy neighbours’ forum community aren’t you? You are Megs?”
Megs nodded in confirmation.
“I am also of that forum. Well I was. I am Sharon.” I let her process that information for a moment, and then she spoke.
“Ain’t you dead?” she asked.
“Unfortunately, yes. Like I put in my post, but people did not believe me. I have already visited and spoke with Panda. You were the next on my list to show you I was not a hoax, or someone hacking her account.”
Megs arm had dropped, the remote still in her hand, but now resting on her sofa. “I don’t understand, why are you here? What do you want?”
“I came because you needed help. Help that the real people should be giving you but they won’t. It’s not they cannot, it’s just that they won’t. I guess it’s too much work for them and the ensuing loss of income that they don’t want. So I helped you instead. How have the neighbours been since my last visit to them?”
“When did you visit them?”
“As I said in my first post, I haunted them with one of the ladies dresses and floated above her bed in it. She was frightened to say the least! That’s when she apologised to you through the wall.”
Megs recalled the incident. “Oh, so that was you’re doing?” I nodded on screen. “Well I think whatever you did, certainly did the trick. Me and the other half have actually been able to live our own lives and not theirs for the last few days, and get sleep!”
I smiled. “I am glad. I will just let you know that I have been over again today already as they were making noise again.”
Megs nodded. “Oh yes, they still trample up and down the stairs like a herd of elephants. I honestly don’t know how the stairs are still standing!”
“Well,” I laughed, “I am hoping they took my next appearance into account. I will be watching them.”
I could see Megs physically relax, her shoulders dropping and her breathing slowed. She looked about her room then up at the ceiling and took a deep breath. Letting it out slowly she looked back at me. “Thank you.” I waved at her.
“It is fine, honestly. Being dead isn’t so bad when I have this sort of job.”
“But really, I do appreciate what you have done. The stress has been horrendous these past few years, and in a matter of a couple of hauntings, you have accomplished what no authority could. I feel sorry for the other thousands of people who are in the same boat, I really do.”
I grimaced. “Yes me too. Unfortunately, I am but one being, and I wouldn’t be able to help them all myself. But those of you I have known for the last couple of years because of my own hell, well, the least I can do is help you all get some peace and quiet, which really is what we all should be entitled to in the end.”
Megs nodded again. “Not just the end, we should have had it from the start.”
“That is very true. I hope you enjoy the peace and quiet, you guys deserve it.”
Megs smiled at me then. “Thank you Sharon. Will my TV still work once you are out of there?”
I laughed. “Oh yes, don’t worry about that. Note that it’s not always me that causes the cut outs though!”
She laughed in reply. “Will you return?”
I shrugged. “I will keep an eye on next door now and then, but if they start up again, just post on the forum and I will return with a fury.”
“Ok, I’m sure I will remember. It’s not every day we see a real ghost! I’m sure Panda feels the same doesn’t she?”
I nodded. “Her reaction was not as vicious as yours to me I have to admit. But at least it ended amicably!”
She laughed. “Oh!” she started. “So is it true how you died then? You were raped and killed?”
“Yes” I replied. “That is true I’m afraid.”
“You must have been so frightened!”
“I was,” I remembered recalling that night. “I think the alcohol helped with the pain though. I dare not even think what it may have been like if I was fully sober.”
“Still, I am really sorry that happened to you. They caught the men though didn’t they?”
“Oh yes, they did. I’m hoping to pay them a visit, very soon.”
“Then I wish you luck, and give them hell Sharon!” She punched her sofa for effect.
“Thanks. And good luck with your new neighbour. Hopefully we won’t see any more negative comments from you, at least for a while.”
“Thanks again Sharon. Come back any time!”
I smiled at her and vanished from the TV. Megs switched it back on, collected her bowl off the floor and went to grab a towel to clean the mess off the floor as I hopped back into her PC. I followed the line straight back home again, and appeared in the kitchen. They moved the laptop. I walked into the living room and found Steve there watching the TV. There was no sign of Michael. Deciding not to waste my energy on Steve, I headed back to the laptop and browsed through the forum again.
So, that’s Panda and Megs converted to believing in ghosts. Now for Torment. Finding his line, I hopped on and rode along it to his house.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Torment’s house was cold when I appeared at the other end. I searched the house for signs of life, but finding none, I headed for the garden. No one there either. I looked about and spotted a shed, the door slightly ajar, and so drew closer. I could hear talking inside as I neared, and within, were three people. One was Torment, but the other two were fiddling with some equipment. I couldn’t even start to imagine what they were doing apart from being there because of the strange noises that were causing hell for Torment.
I couldn’t reveal myself to all of them, I was already overstepping my boundaries as it was showing myself to the living on purpose. But as I hadn’t been stopped yet, I was assuming it was OK. I wasn’t sure, however, that showing myself to people that really didn’t need to see me would be. I wouldn’t risk it, and I didn’t want to meet the higher ups, not for a long, long time, if I could help it. I strolled back into the house, feeling it vibrate around me.
The EMP I had set off obviously had only stopped the noise for a short time and
was now back on, churning out thumps, thuds, vibrations, hums, hisses, banging and whining all day and all night since, at varying frequencies. This had caused Torment more torture, and had now appeared to resort to bringing people in to record the noise, as well as force him to leave his home of over a decade to find a place to get away from the sounds.
It was making him ill. I could sense it, the sickness in this house was stifling. And not just Torment himself, the house felt sick too. It was like it was being shaken to its core but so slowly it was also being tortured. I recognised the shifting in the brickwork, minute details but I could see. The main culprit to this noise, was that same quarry I had exploded over, and they were not only destroying a man’s life, but also his home. If they did not stop soon, there would be nothing left, and no one was trying to help him, apart from these two people measuring the noise themselves.
They all walked in through the back door at that point and sat themselves down in the living room. “I honestly don’t know how you are living with this! It is ridiculous. Once we have the proof I highly suggest getting your solicitor and with our evidence, we would be happy to help you sue the pants off these bastards. It’s insane!”
“Thank you so much for doing this!” Torment was nearly in tears. “I don’t know how much longer I can cope. Even my doctor says it’s damaging my health. He wants me to move, but why should I? I was here first, long before they turned up. They shouldn’t be using their machinery if this is what it’s doing.”
“We agree. Let’s stay a few more days and get more recordings, plus we can triangulate the noise and get a good position of its source, even though we think we know where it’s coming from, we still need the proof for court.”
Torment nodded. “Sure. Would you like a drink?”
The two men nodded and opted for a tea and coffee. They relaxed into the sofa, as Torment left and headed into the kitchen. I followed, and watched as he set the kettle on the hob. I watched fascinated. I had never seen the old style kettles in action, where they whistled once they had boiled enough. As he left the kettle to grab and ready the mugs, I spoke. “Torment? Torment?”
He looked around. “Who was that?” he spoke. “Guys did you call me?” he shouted.
A “No” resounded from the other room.
“Torment, do not be scared, I am not here to hurt you.”
Torment looked confused and frightened, mug in one hand tea bag in another. “Who are you and what do you want? Do you want money? Stuff? Take what you want!”
I laughed automatically which chilled the room. “No Torment. I want to help you. I caused that EMP a few months ago, remember?”
Torment shook his head. “I don’t know who you are. I know there was an EM pulse but why would that have been you, whoever you are?”
“Are you ok in there?” a voice sounded from the living room.
“YES” Torment replied. “Everything’s fine.”
“Just we could hear you talking to someone.”
Torment grabbed the phone handset off the wall and peered around the corner at them, waving the phone. “It’s ok, just got a friend on the line. I’ll be there shortly.” This seemed to satisfy the men, and they went back to chatting.
“Now where are you and who are you, and why are you in my house?” he insisted, trying to find me in the room.
I grabbed a chair and pulled it away from the kitchen table. Torment, shocked in seeing a chair move on its own, froze.
“Sorry. Even dead, I feel the need to sit after a while. This whole talking thing to a living being is draining. Even after training.”
Torment was now staring at where I should be sitting. “Who are you?” he managed.
“I’m Sharon Hartman. From the noisy neighbour forum. You replied to my post, insisting on proof that I was really dead. So here I am.”
“You’re dead.” He spoke flatly. “Right. This is some kind of trick.”
“I can assure you I am not. I can prove it to you if you like.”
Torment crossed his arms. “Fine.”
“Ok what would you like me to do?”
Torment thought a few moments, the kettle whistled though before he could speak, and he began to make up the hot drinks. “I know,” he said, as he tapped a tea bag out onto the kitchen drainer, “if it was really you, do another EM Pulse.”
I halted a moment. “But that would cause myself to explode and drain all my energy. I don’t know when I would return if I did that?”
Torment laughed. “Hah, excuses. You can’t do it because you didn’t do it in the first place!” He grabbed two mugs, and waltzed back in to the other room.
I felt mortified. I had had no idea that this might end up going in this direction. If I did this again, would I come back quickly? Would it be months, years later? Would I ever return? Shit, I can’t do it can I? I held my head in my hands, conflicted. I knew I had to prove myself to him, but if not by an EMP, then how? I couldn’t start moving things around whilst he had visitors, and it sounded as if they would be around for a few more days recording. Maybe I could alter his mind to just accept me? I thought, but I immediately knew that would be wrong. I knew I had done worse things, but he was innocent, I couldn’t do that. I needed him to trust me.
Torment returned into the kitchen for his own drink. “So?” he asked.
“I’m sorry Torment. As much as I want to, I cannot risk causing myself to disappear indefinitely just to prove myself that way for you. I just can’t.”
“Then I cannot believe you, whoever you really are, and however you are doing this. Get out of my house.”
I paused a moment, feeling defeated. “Ok. I may return when you have less people here. I just cannot show myself to them as well as you. My bosses would be very angry.”
As Torment headed back into the living room, I hopped back inside his PC, noting the concerned look on his face as he sat down with the other two men, and rode the line back home.
It was only midday when I reached the house. My failed mission to Torment’s home was deflating. The last two visits had gone so well, I hadn’t even thought that this one would go differently. I was back in the living room, the laptop open on the coffee table. I heard movement upstairs. I guessed Steve was up and about. Sitting down, I typed into the search bar my name, and the news article of my death appeared on the first page. I clicked on it and opened it up to find the names of those who had murdered me.
I wanted some revenge, I knew, but first I had to find out where they were being held. The news article had their printed names, ages and their court date.
“…Three men (Gary Oldham, 29, Frederick Banner, 35, and Ray Winner, 30) have been arrested for the rape and murder of a woman in her own home, late Friday evening. Her body was found by a friend, who wishes not to be named. On finding her body, she immediately phoned the police and ambulance services who attended the scene. The woman (named Ms Sharon Hartman, 24 of Havelock Close) had left work that evening after a leaving party and walked home. She had consumed alcohol at the time according to witnesses at the party. Anyone with more information, please call the local police on…..The three men will be appearing at the Crown Court, Reading…”
I clicked open a new tab and typed in the names of the three men into a new search. Options appeared, some relating to the article I had just read, another though had some more information, and even mentioned the outcome of the court case as well as the name of the jail they were being taken to.
“… Gary Oldham,29, Frederick Banner, 35, and Ray Winner, 30 have been sentenced to 25 years each, and will be held at the Bedford Prison in Bedfordshire…”
“Got you now…..” I spoke aloud, and I hopped inside the PC. I searched about the internet looking for a site for the Bedford Prison, and finding that they had internet access, I grabbed the route, and started my way along it. It didn’t feel to take long as I appeared at the other end in an office. Everything was clean and tidy, numerous people were tapping at their keyboards, one of which I
made shudder with cold as I popped out through their PC. I had no idea where to start, so I decided to do a clockwise search. Turning left out the door, I headed down the corridor, passing open and closed doors on both the left and right of me. Eventually I came to a door at the end of the corridor that opened into a reception area. People in casual clothes, which I presumed to be visitors for the inmates, waited patiently for their turn to go visit friends and loved ones.
I waited for someone to be called, as I thought it would be a good idea to follow someone rather than hunt about for the right direction. It didn’t take long, and a lady in baggy sweats, trainers, matching top and tight pony tail was called up. She stood and walked with a security guard to another room where she was patted down and made to leave all her belongings in a box in another room. I followed, careful not to walk through or knock anything accidently. We entered a room where there were about ten tables, each with a convict and civilian. The lady went straight to one who gave her a long kiss. I felt like turning away, embarrassed but remembered that it wasn’t like anyone could see me. I headed across the room to the other entrance where I assumed the convicts were brought through. There were guards everywhere, all with guns, truncheons, whistles. You named it, they probably had it. Must be some real nasty folks in here, I thought. Oh, my killers for a start!
I headed out the other end of the room and found myself in a small room where guards watched monitors of the room I just passed as well as of cells. I walked through the wall and found myself in an open area, cells either side to me, stairs across from me heading up, with more rows of cells above. Here we go, and I started the arduous task of trying to find the correct cells.
All Hope Lost Page 12
