Lynn moved down the hall which opened up into a foyer that held the defunct elevators on the right. On the left, large ornate windows showcased the twinkling, cheerful downtown lights of El Paso. Lynn returned the backpack to Marcos who began pulling out boxes of salt.
“Kosher salt? You going gourmet ghost hunter on me?” said Hector.
“Shut up, it was on sale,” Marcos said.
“Does it make a difference?” said Lynn.
“No, well… No, no it doesn’t make a difference,” said Hector. “Look, here’s what you do… ” The muffled sounds of glass breaking traveled down the corridor. Hector flipped open the spout on one container and handed it to her. He directed her to make a large circle while he muttered a prayer, “This Sacred Circle, my fortress be, in perfect love and perfect trust be though cast, so mote it be!” She had completed a third of the circle when Lee slammed into the double doors down the hall. “Hurry, once you complete the first circle, nothing should be able to pass.”
Lynn paused. “What about you guys?”
“Don’t worry about us,” said Marcos from the hallway. “Just finish the circle. Hurry, the door’s going to give.”
Lynn continued pouring again, but stopped short of closing the circle. She met Hector's eyes. “Don’t hurt him.”
“I don’t think you need to worry about us hurting him. Close the circle.”
“Promise me, you won’t hurt him.”
“Lynn, he’s coming, close the circle!” yelled Marcos backing up into the foyer. The doors crashed against the wall.
“Not until you promise me!”
“I promise, we will try really hard not to hurt the possessed maniac coming down the hall. NOW CLOSE THE CIRCLE!” yelled Hector. Lynn closed the circle. “Now make two squares, one on top of the other and another circle inside the squares. Don’t break any of the edges, stay inside the middle. Once you’re done, read the prayer on the paper I gave you.”
“Then what?”
“Pray something happens.”
Lynn put the finishing touches to the shapes as Lee stormed into the foyer. “Watch out!” Lynn yelled.
Hector and Marcos tried to draw Lee’s attention, but he knocked them to the floor with one hand.
Lynn stood transfixed as Lee marched up to the circle and howled in rage. Her eyes filled with tears as he paced back and forth around the perimeter, snarling at her.
Lynn wiped her eyes, then read the prayer, “Spirit and Guardian, I call you to my circle. Come be with me. Watch from the east and keep me safe, witness my workings and lend me thy aid.”
She squeezed her eyes shut and whispered, “Lee, come back to me.”
Clapping her hands on the ground, she cried out, “As above, so below, blessed be!”
Epilogue
Hector and Marcos woke up to find Lynn and Lee clinging to each other as Lee chanted over and over, “I would never hurt you,” and Lynn reassuring him with “I know, I know.”
Hector pressed Lee to explain his experience, but all he got was that Lee was trapped in his own body, as if something else had pushed him aside and taken control.
As dawn broke over the horizon, Hector and Marcos led the couple back down the fire escape. Hector said over his shoulder, “There’s this great get-away hotel up in Cloudcroft with some pretty wild activity going on. We’re doing an overnight tour at the end of the month. You two should check it out.”
Hector wasn’t too surprised when Lee raised one eyebrow and said, “You can’t be serious.”
The following weekend:
“All right people, watch your step. There’s a lot of junk down here since they use the basement for storage.”
No one on the ghost tour noticed the black, smoky haze that floated in the back corner of the basement of the Franciscan Hotel…
To experience a real ghost tour, contact El Paso Ghost Tours at 877-GHOST10.
A big thanks to the Paso del Norte Paranormal Society, and the Paranormal Posse.
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Devil of a Ghost Tour Page 4
