by Amy Cross
He waits, and then he turns to me.
“Hey Josh,” I say cautiously, trying not to worry, “can you let us know where you are? We've got the cameras and we're ready to start imaging.”
I wait.
Silence.
“Maybe his earpiece is malfunctioning,” I suggest, but I'm already starting to doubt that explanation as I turn to Doctor Carter. “Maybe he's busy, or he's out of range.”
“Joshua!” he shouts, stepping past me. Evidently no longer relying on the microphones and earpieces, he pauses for a moment before cupping his hands around his mouth. “Joshua, where are you?”
He waits, and then he mutters a few curse words under his breath.
“Is it too much to ask,” he says with a sigh, “that people do as they're told? Did you hear him going back up the stairs?”
I shake my head.
“That doesn't mean he didn't go,” he continues. “We're going to have to split up and find him. As soon as we've located him, we'll rendezvous together and get on with taking the pictures. You look downstairs, I'll check the upper floor.” He mumbles something else as he heads over to the stairs. “I'm just about sick and tired of people who can't follow basic instructions,” he adds testily. “I blame the cult of the individual. Everyone feels like they have to make their mark, rather than just doing what they're bloody well told.”
He starts stomping up the stairs, leaving me standing alone in the hallway.
“Hey, Josh,” I say out loud, hoping that maybe the earpieces were just suffering from a temporary problem, “can you hear me? Can you let me know where you are?”
I wait, but there's no reply and after a moment I turn and look around at the various doors that lead away from the main entrance hall. I know the house's layout, of course, but if anything that actually seems to be making it more difficult for me to figure out which way to go first. Finally, after telling myself to avoid overthinking the situation, I head past the stairs and through to the banquet hall, where the first thing I notice is that our crates of equipment don't seem to have been disturbed at all.
“Josh?” I call out, without really expecting a reply so soon. “Are you here?”
I wait, but there's no reply.
“You'd better have a damn good reason for going silent on us,” I mutter, heading across the room. “Come on, Josh, just answer.”
When I get to the far end of the banquet hall, I look through into the dark, unlit library. There are book-filled shelves covering all the walls, but it's clear that Josh isn't in here either. As I make my way between the armchairs that were left behind by the last occupants, I can't help glancing around at the various shelves and wondering what it must have been like for the people who lived here. We know that Lannister Hall was occupied for a short time after Catherine Lannister committed suicide, but we also know that the inhabitants didn't have an easy time. There was plenty of talk of strange noises in the night, and eventually the house was sealed by the Lannister family.
At least now we know those noises we rooted in something real.
“Josh?” I shout. “Can you hear me?”
When he still doesn't reply, I wander across the library until I reach the house's main kitchen. This room is even darker than the library, without even any moonlight shining through the windows. Frankly, Josh could be nearby and I wouldn't be able to see him. When I check my scanner, however, I see that the readings are low and level, which at least means that Catherine Lannister isn't close by. And if she isn't here, then I guess Josh isn't here either.
“This is great,” I mutter under my breath, picking my way carefully through the kitchen. “Come on, Josh, stop messing around with -”
And then I hear someone sobbing.
Stopping, I stay completely still and listen as the sobbing continues. Finally I turn and look around, trying to figure out exactly where the sound is coming from, and after a moment I realize that there seems to be someone over on the far side of the room. I double-check the scanner, to make sure that the levels are still low, and then I start cautiously making my way around the side of the tables.
“Josh?” I call out. “Is that you?”
The sobbing continues, but deep down I know it can't be anyone else. As I get closer, however, I start to feel increasingly concerned, and finally I stop for a moment and listen again to the sound of somebody who seems really upset. He seems breathless, too, but I'm increasingly convinced that somehow, for some reason, this truly is Josh.
“Hey, what's wrong?” I ask, before stepping around another table. I can barely see anything ahead, so I take my flashlight from my pocket and flick the switch on the side before shining the beam forward.
After just a moment, I see that Josh is sitting on the floor with his back against one of the cabinets. He's got his face in his hands and he seems to be weeping furiously.
“Hey!” I call out, hurrying over to him and dropping to my knees. “What's wrong? Josh, what's going on here?”
I touch his arm, which seems to startled him. He turns to me, and I can see the fear in his eyes.
“Are you okay?” I ask. “Josh, talk to me. Say something!”
“She knows we're here,” he stammers, barely able to get the words out.
“What are you talking about?”
“She knows. She knows about us.”
“Who does? Josh, what -”
“Catherine Lannister!” he gasps, grabbing my arm tight. “She looked at me, Katie! I was following her and then she turned around and looked straight at me! She knows that we're here!”
V
“Bullshit!”
“I swear to you,” Josh gasps as we stand in the hallway, “she -”
“This is bullshit!” Doctor Carter continues angrily. “And I will not have all my hard work derailed by some idiot's fanciful ideas!”
“I swear on my mother's life,” Josh replies, his voice trembling with fear, “she turned and looked straight at me. It was the most terrifying thing I've ever seen. Her eyes looked absolutely black, like night, and she stared at me until I just... I had to turn and run.”
“So you abandoned your task,” Doctor Carter points out.
“She looked at me!” Josh blurts out. “Are you not listening to anything I'm telling you? She literally turned and looked into my eyes, like... Like you're doing right now!”
Sighing, Doctor Carter turns and walks away, but he only gets as far as the bottom of the stairs before stopping and leaning against the railing. He hesitates for a moment, and then finally he turns back to Josh.
“What you're saying is impossible,” he says with an exhausted sigh. “The ghost knows nothing of our presence here! Why is that so difficult for you to understand? She's incapable of registering any hint of awareness that we're watching her. Study after study after study has shown that over the past six months.”
“Then those studies are wrong,” Josh replies, “because I know what I saw.” He turns to me. “You believe me, Katie, don't you? Please, you must know that I'd never lie!”
“I don't think you're lying,” I say cautiously, trying to be tactful, “but sometimes it's easy to get confused, and then things can seem real when they're not.”
“You think I imagined it?” he asks, raising a skeptical eyebrow. “Seriously? You think I flat-out imagined her turning and looking at me?”
“It was your first encounter with a ghost,” Doctor Carter says dourly. “I'd hoped that you might be able to deal with this maturely, but evidently the experience was too much for you. I take full responsibility for my failure to weed you out of the selection process at a -”
“Weed me out?” Josh replies, interrupting him. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“To be honest,” he continues, “it was Miss Sinclair who worried me more. I had serious doubts that she would be able to cope with the intellectual burden of this investigation, yet she has so far shown herself to be far more resilient than she looks.”
“Thank
s,” I mutter. “I think.”
“I'm not losing my mind!” Josh says firmly. “I was following Catherine Lannister, just like you told me to! I didn't like doing it, I admit that, but I was forcing myself. I was following her through the library, and then she just stopped dead ahead of me. I stopped too and waited. I mean, she'd stopped a few times before, right? I figured it was just going to be like that. But then she started to turn. Only partway at first, only so I saw the side of her face. I got scared, I thought maybe she was going to look at me, but I told myself that she wouldn't. That she couldn't!”
Doctor Carter sighs.
“And then she did,” Josh continues. “I'm not crazy. I swear to you, she turned and looked straight at me.”
“Then what?” I ask.
“She stared at me,” he replies.
Doctor Carter sighs again.
“It was like death!” Josh says firmly. “It was like pure death staring straight into my soul!”
“Right,” Doctor Carter mutters, “then I suppose we should pack up and leave immediately. We can't have pure death staring into someone's soul can we?”
He rolls his eyes again.
“She was looking directly at me,” Josh continues. “I don't know how long it lasted. It felt like forever, but it was probably just half a minute, maybe even less. And then she turned away, and then she slowly started walking across the library. I couldn't follow. I mean I literally couldn't force myself to go after her. I swear to God, I have never felt so scared in all my life.” He stares at Doctor Carter for a moment, and then he turns to me. “I'm telling you both. The ghost of Catherine Lannister knows we're here.”
He falls silent, as if he's waiting for us to acknowledge that he's right. I want to say something that helps, but I can't quite string the words together. I can see the fear in his eyes, though, and I'm absolutely convinced that he believes every word that's come out of his mouth. I just wish I could think of something – anything – that might make him feel better.
But I can't.
“Bullshit.”
We both turn to Doctor Carter.
“Absolute, unmitigated bullshit,” he continues. “This is the worst kind of melodramatic, theatrical haunted house crap I've ever heard in my life.”
Josh steps toward him. “I'm -”
“No!” Doctor Carter adds, holding up a hand to stop him. “Scratch that. It's the worst I've had directed to my face. I have actually heard worse, or rather I've read worse, but only in cheap penny comics. Joshua, I don't know where you think you are at this moment in time, but allow me to enlighten you. You are part of a serious, properly funded scientific investigation.”
“I know that,” Josh replies.
“THEN START ACTING LIKE IT!” Doctor Carter roars, shouting so loudly that I instinctively take a step back from him. “This childish buffoonery is already costing us time!” he continues. “Right now we're standing here trying to mollycoddle you, when we should be conducting more tests on the ghost of Catherine Lannister, but if either of you feels unable to contribute then I would kindly ask that you leave!”
He hesitates, before letting out an exhausted sigh.
“I could get more work done alone,” he adds finally, “than like this. So make up your minds, but do it quickly.”
With that, he turns and storms out of the room, no doubt heading off to find Catherine Lannister so that he can begin the task of photographing her ghost.
Turning to Josh, I can see from his expression that he's shocked by Doctor Carter's outburst. I don't blame him, although he actually seems to have gone a little pale.
“He's just very intense sometimes,” I suggest finally, hoping to make things seem a little better. “I mean, that's his reputation, right? I'm sure it's nothing personal.”
“I know what I saw,” he replies, his voice trembling with shock. I swear, it's as if he's on the verge of tears. “She looked right at me.”
I don't know how to respond to that.
“It's okay,” he continues, “you don't believe me either.”
“I know you believe it,” I reply, “but -”
“But you think it's all in my head.”
“I think we're in a very unusual and high-pressured situation.”
“Which has driven me just a little bit nuts?”
“I didn't use the word nuts.”
“You didn't have to. I can see it in your eyes.” He pauses, before looking down at his scanner.
“You're not quitting, are you?” I ask.
He doesn't respond immediately. Instead he conspicuously takes a moment to adjust some settings on the scanner, before finally turning to me again.
“I guess we need to go find her again,” he says cautiously.
“Are you sure?”
“Of course I'm sure. Carter was right, we came to do a job, so let's do it.” He hesitates, and I can tell that he's still not certain. “But let's stick together, okay?” he adds finally. “Because if she turns and looks at me again, I want to be damn sure this time that someone else is there to see it.”
VI
“What's she doing now?” I whisper, watching as the ghost of Catherine Lannister stands at one of the upstairs windows, looking out toward the forest. After a moment, I check my watch. “She's been there for six minutes now.”
“She's looking toward the town,” Doctor Carter replies over my earpiece. He's watching Catherine from the other end of the corridor. “I've got a theory that ghosts do remember their mortal lives. If that's the case, then maybe she's thinking back to something that happened while she was alive.”
“It's not been proved that they can think at all, though,” I point out.
“Then by all means,” he continues, “advance a theory of your own.”
Noticing the challenge in his voice, I squint slightly to get a better view of Catherine's face. I'm about ten feet from her, but I can just about make out her eyes. I guess it's tempting to start reading emotions into her gaze, but in truth ever since we first spotted her it's been clear that her expression is mostly pretty blank. This ties in with the fact that every verified ghost encounter over the past six months has shown the same thing: ghosts don't seem to exhibit a wide range of emotions. Instead they seem slow and mournful, as if they're just going through the motions. That's why a lot of people doubt that they're even capable of experiencing genuine emotions at all.
There's even a theory that they're little more than echoes of their former selves. That theory's certainly a far cry from the old idea of ghosts as vengeful, anguished souls seeking some kind of redress.
“Why don't you go closer?” Doctor Carter asks after a moment.
“What do you mean?”
“Go closer to her,” he continues. “There's no reason not to.”
I hesitate, feeling a flutter of fear, but deep down I know I'm being irrational. Doctor Carter's right, there's absolutely no reason to fear ghosts. After all, it's pretty firmly established that not only are they not aware of us, but they couldn't hurt us even if they were. They're ephemeral, they're here but not here. I shouldn't be scared, but it still takes a moment before I've fully convinced myself.
“Okay,” I stammer, before glancing at Josh and seeing that he looks horrified by the idea. “I'm not going to go all the way,” I tell him. “Just closer.”
He shakes his head.
Ignoring him, I turn and take a step forward, then another, and then another until I've more or less halved the gap to Catherine Lannister. She's just a few feet away now, almost close enough to touch, and I can see her face more clearly. There's a very faint glow coming from her pale skin, as if some kind of light is showing through from inside. Nobody has been able to explain the ghosts' glow so far, but it's a subject that's been studied extensively.
Unable to stop myself, I take another step forward until I'm standing right next to her.
“You're insane,” Josh whispers over the earpiece.
“She's beautiful,” I reply, a
s I look at her eyes from the side and see that her expression is still very calm, very blank. After a moment I turn and look out the window, but all I can really see is Catherine's reflection along with my own. I know what's out there, though: there's just mile after mile of pitch-black forest, and when I turn back to Catherine I can't help wondering what she finds so fascinating. Or is she just trapped in an echo of her old life, reliving some long-lost moment?
“Observations?” Doctor Carter says over the earpiece.
“She looks calm,” I reply, keeping my voice a little low. “Peaceful.”
Pausing, I look at the dark marks around her neck.
“I can see the lesions from the rope,” I continue. “She's definitely exhibiting injuries that would have been sustained at the moment of her death.”
“What else?”
“She -”
Stopping suddenly, I realize that Catherine's chest is moving ever-so-slightly. Rising and falling. It takes a moment before I understand what I'm seeing.
“She's breathing,” I say with a sense of shock in my voice.
“Are you sure?”
“She's definitely breathing. She looks like she is, anyway.”
“There have been reports of that with other ghosts,” he explains. “It must be a reflex left over from when they were alive. What else do you see?”
“Come and take a closer look,” I reply.
“I can see from here. I want to know what you see.”
Peering past Catherine, I can just about make out Doctor Carter at the far end of the corridor. He could easily come over himself, and I don't understand why he's hanging back. Then again, I know enough by now to realize that there's nothing to be gained from challenging him, so I try to focus on making as many up-close observations of Catherine Lannister as possible. I want to notice something spectacular, something groundbreaking, but so far I only -
“Touch her,” Doctor Carter says suddenly.
I look over at him again.
“Touch her,” he reaffirms. “Katie, touch her.”
