The Reality Investigators

by V Bertolaccini

  Everything I had encountered seemed to have been proven to have something not supernatural behind it, and I kept on going on the side of Marple, and his views, as there was nothing to back up the claim, accept something unknown, which could even have been deliberately put there to do something, and trick people and the police.

  In the end I became far more interested in the case, and wanted the answer to what had happened.

  The sky darkened outside and I wondered what the hell the conclusion to it would be this time.

  I shivered, and I looked at the night sky approaching and snowflakes started floating down, and I watched Higgins react to it and ignore it.

  I was sure if it remained the way it was it might ruin the case and investigation, as whatever it was might not turn up, and my thirst for knowledge grew and I knew I had to find something.

  Chapter 7

  The Scientists Convention

  Media from all over the globe arrived at the annual conference of the exploration association in London, as we watched on, and I realized immediately the paranormal scientists, who had taken me there, had given them information of an occurrence, which left me confused, as all we had was the killer Santa investigation, which added up to little, and I wondered what they had told them.

  Even though the occurrences that had already taken place had become well known and documented, and was on all the newspapers, and many other media sources, with a major police investigation.

  Most of the scientists and explorers of the exploration association were packed together in the large hall.

  The scientists knew me from our passed investigations of the Loch Ness monster and of the discovery under Craigmillar Road, which were surely the largest uncovered, in decades at least, and I wondered what they thought of the Santa investigation, and I found they were mainly giving updates on it and us and what we had found out.

  I recalled everything that had happened and our explorations of the cavity we found, where the object was under the area of land beside the loch, and our use of divers to investigate the loch about the cavity and the entrance, and their filming of its interior, which was startling, and had many signs of the monster having been living there, and the remains of food it had eaten, including fish, sharks, and skeletons of cattle.

  I soon realized they were not interested in the Loch Ness discover and were interested in what many of them had witnessed us uncovering in the cavity under Craigmillar Road, and were still waiting for the conclusion to the investigations by their scientists.

  It was surprising that the exploration association was primarily unknown and the media still gave little about the group, and its accomplishments. Even though many of their scientists and explorers had their explorations and adventures in the media over decades, including many famous and foremost scientists from about the globe!

  I recalled how their scientists had helped us out in our investigations, and that they had many scientists, leading scientists, and the latest and foremost in technology, and vast amounts of information, including unknown findings, and documentation, from about the globe.

  Chapter 8

  The Manifestation

  I could not grasp what would happen, as everything needed to solve the case was missing, and Marple forced me into going further, and ordered me to solve it as quickly as possible.

  I realized he had read my report on what had happened and had entirely missed what had occurred and what I meant, and I could not explain any further anything of what had happened and he now never seemed to think anything strange had happened, and I realized again that even though he had a great interest in investigating the paranormal he never believed it, and consistently explained it away, with logical solutions!

  Though we identified another Santa appearance at a nearby street, which was in an identical street to the other street, in a line of the houses behind the houses, and it was in the same house in the street it would have visited in the other street, and I identified the house next to it as the next house it would visit.

  The woman owner let the paranormal investigators set up their paranormal equipment there, with scientists and equipment from scientists from the exploration association.

  The elderly woman was delighted to see so many scientists and important people, and cameras documenting it, in her house.

  Paranormal scientists and technicians rushed back and forward setting up their new equipment all over the woman’s living room, and outer hall where it had emerged in the other houses, while Oswald and Higgins checked everything.

  I watched on, and watched the woman leave to go to bed smiling, joyously listening to the scientists at work.

  They gave me the impression that they might be going to do something tremendous or come to a conclusion, and that they might well have found the right location to do it.

  I later started to realize the implications, and recalled what had happened to me the last time, and how deadly it was, and I realized that they might find something of immense deadly supernatural origins, of great danger to everyone there!

  Yet I realized the scientists did realize it and intended to carry out their research safely, and they started hiding all their equipment away, so it would not be seen!

  I regularly examined the equipment they now had and was surprised at how advanced it had become, and at its capabilities, and I wondered how they could make a profit to pay for it, and realized it had to be funded.

  Their visit there was clearly giving them far more of an insight and knowledge of things than I realized, and they had gained a great deal of information from their earlier questioning of witnesses of the occurrences in the other houses.

  I was becoming positive that they had found far more than they indicated, and were keeping secrets.

  I wanted to grasp what they all knew that I should know, and I regularly strolled about examining the equipment for clues, and recalled something that I had forgotten, which I had read, about some of the work that the paranormal scientists had done years ago, after they had given facts on their paranormal investigations.

  I recalled their stuff had been surprising, and even alarming, which had drawn my attention at the time, and I recalled that I had dismissed it later as them using it to advertise their work!

  At times I thought they had been deliberately putting the psychic research there to cover their real work and discoveries! Whatever that was!

  The scientists informed me that they were checking for virtually all known forms of disturbance, energy and matter disturbances, in and around the emergence region and they were sure that they could find something!

  There was something strange, and I felt as though there was something going to happen, but I could not grasp what, and I was sure I might not have encountered it before, even though I had seen the Santa and what it did, and I listened to all the scientists at work and their low level conversations.

  Suddenly, in the darkness, in their hidden away positions in an outer room, at the side of the living room, they detected a reaction and that something was making an appearance, and they all went silent, and I checked my watch and realized it was around about the same time as the last visitations, and I realized how late it was, and how sleepy I was, and watched the scientists at work, silently checking stuff on their equipment about the zone, and building, and one whispered something in Higgins’s ear, making him look slightly surprised.

  Higgins’s face turned dramatic, making me wonder what the hell was going to happen, and if I had put my foot in it again, and I stood staggered waiting for something to happen, and I even regretted bringing them there, and I saw he was desperate to do something, and he rushed over to two scientists.

  I decided to remain with Oswald near the door, as I had to know what was there – and if something was going to happen – and we could not get anything from the equipment.

  I was surprised to see someone look out the curtains and see drifting currents of snowflakes blow about outside, and it starting to deepen, with gusts
blowing about the building, and I wondered if it affected the Santa appearance or if it had affected it, and realized it surely was the timing of the appearance, and that the weather occasionally reacted at specific times, and positions of the sun, and temperature.

  It had been a long day, and the next day could very well be far longer, and I watched Higgins rush about doing something and I wondered what I was missing, and if we should slow down and observe it at a greater distance first, as the occurrence would surely take place at another house, and it was surely not our last chance to get hold of something.

  The bright snowing sky seemed to darken and the temperature dropped, and I pointed it out to Oswald, as heavy snow came down all about the area.

  I checked a thermometer and realized that there had been accounts of drops in temperature before and during manifestations and I wondered if it had been so powerful that it had affected the weather about us.

  While the others were at work I placed a seat at the door of the room and left the door slightly opened, just enough to see into the living room, and entire area where I knew it would arrive, and I wondered why it was late, and if something else could appear, of great danger to us, and I sat looking out, startled.

  I slowly started to sense something was there, and it sent a chill through me as I thought of what it could do, and my eyes for no reason fell upon something in the living room and I realized it was there all along and I suddenly jumped back startled, and my heart leapt, and I saw its dark red figure shifting about in the room, and I watched a scientist activate a special camera, and equipment, which I had seen him set up earlier!

  Even though it was dark it looked identical to Santa, and I watched its strange figure move making Santa sounds, and I realized it was similar to a department store Santa, and I thought I saw it had bright red eyes, and I tried to grasp what it was and was doing there!

  There was something strange that I just could not grasp, and it moved and did things far differently than anyone or anything I had seen, and I was shocked at its now lethal appearance. It was like there was something there that should not be there!

  Suddenly I spotted the woman who owned the house on the stairs in the darkness, glancing into the darkness of the living room, watching it in horror, unable to decide what to do, and I realized she might actually do something foolish, and confront it, and I did not know what to do and sat stunned, and thought of the death of the man the last time.

  I studied its strange Santa features, and saw nothing, and tried to see if it had detected her, and what it might do.

  I had to do something so I did and rushed out the door silently, and closed the door shut behind me, seeing nobody in the room had seen me leave, and entered a dark hidden area at the side of the living room, out of its view, and showed myself to her, and used gestures, and pointed, to get to her to go back up the stairs.

  I watched her realize its deadliest and start to move back up the stairs, and saw the Santa react to something, and it march up to the her Christmas tree and remove something from its sack and place something there, which in the other houses we had discovered identical objects to things that were at Christmas trees, with cards with people’s names on them from the other houses, which proved it had not detected what it was copying or had bothered altering it.

  For a second I visualized being out in a starless expanse of space, and wondered what it was, and if I had actually seen it, and if I was falling asleep, and its hideous Santa shape shifted, ready to do something, and a dull red radiance gleamed about it, illuminating its hideous devilish face, which I was positive was the devil itself, using it to cover its identity.

  I glared at its unmoving silhouette in shock, studying it, wondering what was there, and if all the ghost stories I had heard through my life were false, and they were something else entirely.

  The deep blackness about me was so vivid and things so real and unreal, and alive, I felt deep horror, and thought of what I had so far encountered and my original thoughts of it.

  For an instant the thing in front of me altered in form, and I saw a demon energy formation, and stood staggered, wondering what it was, and what it intended to do, and how I should handle it!

  What strange place had it come from? Did reality actually exist there? Was it actually something entirely different from anything we had encountered?

  The being/entity seemed to do nothing, other than transforming itself, and I saw strange ghostly images of what could have been life forms flash through my mind.

  When I examined its dark almost invisible Santa costume I saw it was not actually solid but translucent, and had only a faint shadow from it over the carpet, while its interior seemed composed of swirling currents of energy mist, and its shape was not touching the floor, and was floating over it, and I realized it was as if it was not there but somewhere else, and reacting to the surroundings somewhere else.

  I was sure that I could solve the case by examining it and finding something! I was sure it might be affected by things, and I could find a way of getting rid of it, and stopping it haunting the region, and I became even more fascinated, and I moved up close to it, behind it, and examined its ghostly demon features.

  I tried to grasp everything about it, which I could recognize, and wondered what all the scientists of the world would think of the thing, and would do to see and examine it.

  What would the paranormal scientists consider it? I could not get anything, and up close it mainly looked like a mass of strange red energy being generated by something, from somewhere, and to my amazement it exploded into a frenzy of activity, and I realized it had detected me, and at that point I fell over unconscious.

  Chapter 9

  The Breakthrough

  I could not grasp what happened, as my head was spinning, and everything I needed to solve the case was missing, and the scientists were all rushing around doing things I could not grasp, but I recognized by their reactions that they were happy with many of the results, but disappointed with some.

  After the disappearance of the Santa and occurrences Oswald had gone and searched for me and had found me sprawled across the floor under the Christmas tree, and I grasped at how lucky I had been to survive what had happened, and it was incredible that they barely even realized what had happened and what I had seen.

  The woman gave me cups of coffee and apologized for what had happened, and she was glad to hear from one of the scientists that it would not appear there again, and she was surprised that it had left her a Christmas gift, which confused me, as I recalled what I had seen, and the killings that had occurred.

  I realized I had to report what had happened and had entirely missed what had occurred afterwards, and I realized I could say little that Marple would believe, and he would be left disappointed, and I realized that I better get facts from the scientists to give him, and so he would know what I meant, and I realized again that even though he had no beliefs in the existence of ghosts and the supernatural he had a great interest in investigating the paranormal, and liked consistently explaining it away with logical solutions!

  After I finished getting what I could I was glad to finally leave the place and return to the headquarters of Reality Investigations, where Marple rushed in and got me a drink and placed it in front of me and stood at the fireplace.

  It was incredible! Marple looked more baffled than I had seen him, in a long time, and I then realized we could have problems!

  The serial killer Santa was still on the rampage, and all over the media, and the police wanted the culprit, and they still never had any clues to who he was, or anything about him, and they wanted Marple to solve the case, and not only was the sum of money for solving it incredible he would get the fame and prestige he wanted, in London, and at his new headquarters, and he could become a major investigator, and solve the unsolvable case, and its insolvability was a major factor that kept teasing him, and he seemed partly obsessed with it now, and all his investigators and connections were virtually on the c
ase, checking for anything, and any remote clues.

  It amazed him what had happened, when I finally told him some things, and that we had predicted its appearance and had not had the police there to capture him, and I was left staggered, and wondered what would have happened, and was at a loss of what to say, as he clearly never believed it was anything other than the serial killer, and I realized it could be a future massacre.

  Eventually Marple grew tired of the lack of evidence, and eventually asked me, “What did their research uncover?”

  “Not much!” I moaned.

  “Even with all the scientists and all their equipment?”

  “They are still accumulating their findings …”

  The phone rang out and I answered it as I was the closest to it and was surprised it was the scientists still at work back at the house, who had finished their work there, and had packed away their equipment and were getting ready to leave, and the scientist on the phone put Oswald on the phone.

  It staggered me what he then said, and I was surprised that they had collected large amounts of strange readings, which they were at the moment unable to grasp, and had detected a lot of energy and things that they had never heard of, and were also left baffled as paranormal scientists, and they had traced the Santa’s appearance, and emergence out of nowhere, but had found little on how it had appeared there, and its disappearance was just as strange, and was as though it had vanished off the face of the world, and they had detected strange things on its encounter with me, and it seemed to have done something, and had done some form of analyze of me, and its behavior had altered, and it had stopped what it had been doing and had left there, just after I had collapsed, and some of the scientists thought it had detected presence of their equipment at the same time.