Shadows of Eternity: The Children of the Owls (Frost and Flame Book 2)

by Rick Kueber

  “CRACK” A sound, as Del so accurately put it, 'like two large hammers smacking together', very metallic and heavy, seemed to echo from some distant place, yet somehow, still within the same room. Everyone in the room flinched, especially Barb and Del.

  Though I knew the answer, I had to ask, “Did you hear that, it sounded heavy, maybe metallic?”

  “Yeah, that was pretty interesting, huh?” Katie said. Jenn looked up at us over her shoulder and smiled. “Sometimes you just have to know how to talk to them.” She turned back around. “Can you do that again?” She asked politely, but there was no other sound or reply. In fact that was all of the activity we experienced in that room during this particular visit, and eventually we moved on to the next door.

  “On through here is the room we call the 'rat room'.” Del said as we entered the next room. “Oh gawd!” Barb grumbled, and then laughed as she pointed up to a spot where the water damaged ceiling was coming down slightly... and there it was… a dead rat, hanging out of the edge of the open crevice in the ceiling. We had seen worse, but it was awkwardly morbid.

  “Ewww, that's just creepy.” Jenn said jokingly. “I know, and apparently it's mummified. It's been up there for years, and now it's just a part of this old building, and no one can bring themselves to get rid of it.” Del explained.

  We left the rat room after a short round of investigating and headed up a couple of steps and into an oddly shaped sort of a hall. The rafters were dusty and cobweb filled. We now found ourselves in another part of the original basement of the home. Old jars, bits of wood and an assortment of boxes were scattered about in disarray. There were doorways to our left, and up ahead there was an opening to the right and one straight ahead. I was beginning to feel one of those

  uncomfortable, eerie sensations again. This area truly had the look and feel of a haunted house you might see in a Hollywood thriller. To our right was one of the most curious things I had seen yet. Just before the opening on that side of the strange corridor, there was an old rickety, uneven, and un-level set of open wooden stairs that led up to the rafters above, and then simply ended.

  We all took our turns peering into the doorway to the left, which was a storage room that held shelves full of regularly used items such as bingo cards, markers and the ball cage, but for some reason we did not enter. Instead we stealthily made our way through the doorway that stood directly in front of us and found ourselves in a puzzling room that had numerous round air ducts that cut across the room at various angles and caused the entire space to feel 'off-kilter'. While the others took their turns looking around, and taking readings, Jennifer and I ventured into the room at the foot of the stairway to nowhere.

  The walls in this area were original to the home, and built of old red clay bricks. Now they were brittle and crumbling, and hidden behind decades of dusty cobwebs. We had to duck as we entered the creepy space. The floor was concrete and had a deep ‘cut out’ in the center. We would later learn that this ‘pit’ was where the old steam boiler, that was used to heat the home, had once been located. The brickwork was not particularly remarkable, it was average at best, and like the other areas, had a dirty, musty, web covered surface.

  Our attention was immediately drawn to an antique wooden wheel chair that must have been from the same era as the original home. It too was dust and web covered and had the appearance as if it were growing into, and becoming a part of, the house. The wall directly behind it was the same as the others with one exception, just up and to the left of the wheel chair was a cut out opening that lead to a crawlspace.

  Katie popped her head in the doorway to the boiler room and said what the two of us were already thinking. “Wow, it's totally creepy in here. This is what paranormal investigators dream of...and that wheel chair. That's amazing!”

  We had decided, without a word, that this place was worth spending some time investigating. Jennifer and I both turned on our digital recorders to capture any electronic voice phenomenon that may occur. She set hers on the far side of the room, and I placed mine in the seat of the wheelchair. The hair on the back of my neck stood up, and I had the unmistakable feeling that I was being watched....that we were not alone.

  Katie depressed the on switch of her K-II meter and sat it near the open hole in the concrete floor. We stepped back and began our typical, routine questions. Once we were all in the room, we turned off our flashlights and slipped into the dank, darkness of the moment. When our eyes began to adjust, the faint glow of the red recording lights, and the single green light telling us the K-II was on, gave the small room beneath the ground level a sinister glow and a cavern like feeling.

  “This is one of the spookiest places I think I have ever been.” Barb whispered to everyone. “It definitely has an unnerving presence about it...but it's not the creepiest place we've ever been.” Katie whispered back.

  “Helmach farm?” I responded with a question. “That one has to be the most haunted and creepy place I've ever been.” Jenn popped in with a comment that none of us could deny.

  It was just then that the room went silent. We all stood frozen in place as if Medusa herself had appeared and turned us to stone, when there was a sound, a low murmuring whisper that trailed off into the night.

  “What was that?” Del whispered loudly. “I heard it to.” I answered back. “I can't say for sure, but it sounded like voices.”

  “Shhh...” Jenn hushed us all, and pointed to the K-II meter on the floor. It was beginning to slightly flicker and I stared at it like a kid watching his first fireworks display, afraid to look away and miss something phenomenal. In a matter of seconds, it had stopped. There was a collective exhale, which made me realize that I was not the only one holding my breath.

  I began to speak to the nothingness around us. “If you are here with us, we'd like to communicate with you. I think we may have heard you trying to talk a few minutes ago … if that is too difficult, you can talk to us by answering our questions using this little box on the floor with the green light on it. If you touch this box, it should light up when your energy comes in contact with it. The more energy you exert, the more lights you will light up.” No matter how haunted a place seemed to be, or how many times I had done this, it always felt awkward to speak to someone who simply wasn't there.

  “Would you like to try that? If so, touch the little gray box.” Jennifer said politely. In mere seconds the light flickered. “Do you feel trapped here?” I asked and waited, and once again the flicker of green drew us in like a magnet. “Did you used to live in this house?” Katie took her turn and immediately there was a flickering light, which quickly went out.

  I leaned toward Del and Barb and whispered “You can ask a question if you want.” It was too dark to really see, but I was pretty sure they were smiling through their

  uncomfortableness.

  “Are there many of you here?” Del spoke up. At first there was nothing but darkness and silence. Just when I was about to give up and ask another question, the light flickered one more time, a long slow intermittent flashing and then went still.

  “Whoa!” Katie said. “I guess we aren't alone at all. I wonder how many there are here? ... Can you make the light flash once for each of you that are here?” Nothing happened. So, we waited for what seemed like an eternity. Nothing. We shuffled around the room a bit trading places and trying to stir things up. Still… nothing.

  “If you use a little more energy, maybe try to squeeze or hit this box, more lights will light up. There are green lights, and yellow and red...” As soon as I said the word red, the K-II meter lit up fully, every light and remained lit for a few seconds. Everyone in the room felt a chill and goose bumps were raised. We stayed in that room for another half an hour or more, but we experienced no more notable activity.

  On our way out we were all abuzz whispering about the impressive K-II interactions in the eerie 'wheel chair' room. When we stepped out of the older area and into the newest part of the basement where the bar and
bingo tables were set up, it was like the entire feel of the space had become oppressive, and suddenly uncomfortable to be in. A few steps in and Barb and Del stopped without warning, staring ahead and into the far left corner of the odd rectangular room. I can't say if we all noticed it at the same time, but when I looked in the same direction I clearly saw something moving...something low, and large. I held my breath, watching as some vacuum of blackness sucked every bit of light out of the already darkened corner, and moved slowly, awkwardly, yet purposefully to our right.

  Jenn carefully raised her video cam and pointed it in the direction of the shadowy motion. Depressing the record button, the infra-red lights came on and the electronic hum of the camera filled the otherwise silent room. Perhaps it was the red lighting that was pointed in the corner, or the sound of the running video camera, but something provoked the shadow. In a rush of sound that seemed to grow inside my head, like the shrieking of a dying animal, multiple shadowy figures flew directly across the room, straight towards us! The entire group was terrified and stumbled backwards a few steps. I managed to accidentally find the step that led into the older area, and catching my heel on it, fell backwards and onto my butt with a painful smack. I watched as the shadows passed through my new friends and team mates, and then brushed by me as well, with what almost felt like the cold movement of air, like a nearby air-conditioning vent had suddenly turned on and then back off.

  I jumped up immediately, before the experience even had time to sink in, and turned my flashlight on, chasing the shadows into the old boiler room. I was followed within inches by the rest of my companions. Jenn and Katie burst into the room with me and stood shocked as we watched three shadowy, full bodied apparitions standing in the pit where the old boiler used to be. In the second following our visual discovery, as Barb and Del peeked into the room over our shoulders, the shadow people sank into the brick covered pit and disappeared from our sight.

  “That was intense!” said Del. “We've had plenty of experiences here, but nothing that up-close and personal!” The excitement shook his voice.

  “Yep!” Katie answered back. “It was kind of an 'in your face' moment, huh?”

  “Ya think?” Jenn chimed in with her sarcastic comment, almost chuckling. “And did you feel how cold it was?” Barb said raising her right arm and rubbing it with her left hand. “I still have goose bumps!”

  “I hope that didn't freak you out too much, but it's kinda what we're used to.” I said to Barb and Del. “We totally understand if you want to sit the investigation out and just hang out in the bar room, or something.” I tried to offer them an 'out' because most people are not interested in face to face spirit activity, and after our last investigation, I didn't want to put anyone in that situation with us.

  “Oh no... That was great!” Del answered back, and even in the dim light, I could see the grin on his face. He and Barb had true paranormal investigator blood running through their veins.

  “Yeah, I hope everyone at the club believes us when we tell them about it!” Barb added excitedly. The air was thick in the room as we all found our way into the former boiler room. Thick lint-like dust covered the pipes and Romex wiring that hung across the floor joists. An uncomfortable feeling overwhelmed us all. It was that sickening feeling when you are asked to identify a loved one after a tragic accident, mixed with the repulsive nature of a high school visit to the county morgue to deter teens from drinking and driving. None of us could say, at the time, why we felt these things, but we all agreed that it took everything we had to remain in that room awaiting another visit from the shadowy presences.

  Chapter 5 OUT of the ASHES

  My mind drifted back to only a month prior when we came in contact with the shadow demon at the Helmach farm and how its attachment to little Ashley Sue had caused her to become the most evil of creatures at times, and how it had even turned my team into angry and sometimes bitter people. My stomach turned, as thought about the possibility of three of these 'demons' in one location...

  “Oh... fuck...” The whisper escaped my head and slipped out of my mouth. “Oops...so sorry! I really don't usually talk like that.” I apologized to everyone in the room.

  I think Barb and Del were a bit shocked, but chuckled under their breath. I could see Jenn's smile in the dim LED light of the meters.

  “What?” Katie asked. “Something must have made you say that, right?” I didn't want to answer, not right then, but I suppose it was only fair not to keep something like this from them. “Do you remember the shadow we 'ran into' at the Helmach farm?” Katie and Jenn's faces went blank, and I could almost see the blood draining from them as they went pale, remembering the shadow demon that brought us all such terror and other worldly horrors.

  “Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying this is the same at all... we have encountered lots of shadow people in the past who were not out to do anyone any harm, but the feeling I was getting in here...” I trailed of never ending my sentence.

  “I can feel it too... kinda sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach.” Jenn spoke quietly and gravely. I stood up and was visibly shaken by my thoughts. I squeezed between Jenn and Katie to where Barb and Del stood, near the door. I whispered to them, “Come out here with me for a minute, if you don't mind.”

  “Sure.” Whispered Del and they followed me out to the large room where we had first seen the shadow people. We stopped and before I could speak, the lightning stuck just outside, and the thunder sounded a deafening boom. I took a moment to regain my composure before I addressed my concerns.

  “I'm not trying to frighten you, but I think maybe we should call it a night here. We have a lot of audio and video to review already, and our last encounter with a shadow haunting was not so good. I would like to possibly come back with our friend Theo and do some more investigating here. Theo is a psychic medium, and he is very good with using holistic means to purify and protect people and places.” I spilled my guts to them and waited for their reply. The two looked at each other in the dim lighting, and then Barb spoke up.

  “That sounds great!” She began, and the two smiled at me. “We were honestly afraid you might come here and not have any activity and then leave us with no answers, so coming back and bringing more help is a wonderful idea!”

  “I have a feeling that there is more to this haunting than we know, but I will do everything in my power to get you the answers you need, and proving this place is legitimately haunted, well... I'm pretty sure we're beyond that already.” I reassured them.

  *** While I ushered the two out to the newer area, Jenn and Katie remained behind, seated on the floor near the open pit.

  “I don't like this place. It feels...wrong” Katie said with a mousey voice.

  “Me either.” replied Jenn. “Leave it to E-V-Prick out there to walk off and leave his team in this...” 'BOOOOM!!!” the lightning and thunder announced their arrival together so dramatically, that the girls wondered if the building had been directly hit.

  “You think that struck the building?” Jenn asked, but Katie was distracted.

  “Yeah...I know it did.” was her only response. Jenn turned to see what it was that had Katie's attention. She followed Katie's stare down to the pit in front of them, where they both saw the glowing embers and tiny flames of a phantasm. They watched as the miniature fire and its fuel began to grow and flourish. What began as the size of a few pebbles and match flames grew and grew becoming a mound of red-hot coal embers that would more than fill a wheel barrow, and flames that now licked the dusty cobweb covered rafters, but did not seem to radiate any heat.

  The pile of burning embers began to move. The uppermost coals tumbled down followed by the next and so on, until it appeared to be a landslide of embers revealing what appeared to be bones.

  “You seeing this?” Katie whispered so quietly that Jenn barely heard her. She did not budge, and her lips moved less when she spoke than those of a seasoned ventriloquist.

  “Mmm-hmmm” Jenn made the noi
se without even parting her lips, and the two gazed at the burning embers as they continually revealed more and more.

  The mound of red glowing coals soon exposed the chalky, white, ash covered skeletal remains of three adults. One of the skulls rolled to the side and seemed to be looking towards the two girls, and its boney hand and arm reached out to the girls, but fell lifeless as the fire was rekindled. The girls sat horrified and speechless as they watched the flames once again grow. The fire, though it seemed to now have no coals on which to feed, became a powerful inferno, hissing and blowing like an acetylene torch, or flamethrower, billowing out flames with intent. Just as the flames reached their fullest potential, Ashley appeared within them, arms spread wide, palms upturned, and her hair a float on the waves of rising ‘heat’.

  “These monsters are not the end of the story, but the beginning.” Ashley called to the girls in an otherworldly voice that gave them chills and retrieved a fear they had been trying to forget... the fear given to them by Ashley Sue, the burning girl.

  Jenn found her courage while Katie sat dumbfounded by the spectral girl. “There are no real monster's Katie...” she whispered trying to comfort her friend.

  The spectral voice began softly, and then filled the room with a frightful power and caused the room to brighten and glow with the orangey, dancing light of the fire, “I never believed in monsters either... until I became one!” The fiery glow dimmed and Ashley seemed to shrink somewhat in stature.