Paranormal Intruder

by Caroline Mitchell

  ‘Do you want us to move house?’ Neil asked. The answer was a swift NO. ‘Do you want us to get out of the pub?’ Neil asked.

  The table jumped in response and then thumped a YES.

  Tracey joined in with a question, ‘Do you like it at Neil and Caroline’s house?’ A knock signified YES. No surprise there.

  I jumped as my phone signalled a missed call. It was Mike. I found his number on the screen to call him back, and the table jolted towards me. I hesitated, deciding against making the call. Instead, I directed a question to the entity. ‘Have I offended you?’ The answer was NO.

  We reeled off a succession of quick fire questions. ‘Do you want to be our friend?’ I asked, and sighed with relief as YES was communicated back to me. I took a sip of my drink, trying to think of questions worthy of a hotline to the other side. My mind went blank. All I could think of was asking if it was scared of the dog. The answer was YES.

  We ascertained through questions and answers that the entity was born in the sixteenth century and had a wife. When asked who was to blame for the fires, the blame most definitely lay with her. I was not convinced; blaming the activity on someone else seemed another way of keeping favour.

  We stopped for a break as Neil, Lee and Josie walked outside for a cigarette. As they stood, a shrill beep was followed by a Weheeew noise. We laughed in astonishment, and the noises attracted some funny looks. Minutes later Neil, Lee and Josie returned, and a loud ‘Grrrrrrrrh’ growling noise followed the creaking of the door. I took a deep breath and asked, ‘Did you make that growling noise as they came in?’ the knock that followed meant YES. But why? ‘Do you want to frighten us?’ I said. It rapped NO. I felt my guard drop as if I was speaking to an old friend instead of the source of our torment. ‘ I didn’t think you wanted to frighten us,’ I said softly.

  Tracey was listening attentively and joined in with a question. ‘Do you think that was funny?’ Tracey asked. The answer was YES. ‘Because we laughed, didn’t we?’ YES came the reply.

  ‘Are you trying to amuse us, is that it?’ I asked. A loud bang for NO hit the table. ‘Are you out to amuse yourself?’ I asked. YES it replied. ‘And why not,’ I said, ‘better than hanging around here all the time.’ I looked across the table at my friends and felt very fortunate to be part of this world. ‘Are you happy you found Neil and Lee?’ YES came the answer.

  Neil leaned in and asked a question, ‘Will you help us let people know there is life after death?’ YES came the reply. ‘Is it OK if I write a book about you?’ Neil said.

  I fiddled with my chain uncomfortably. That question was bound to rile the unpredictable entity. Two thumps signalled a response of NO, and the taps grew into sinister two thump responses of NO, NO, NO, like the deathly rhythm of a train, bang-bang, bang-bang, on it went.

  I did not like the way things were turning. ‘It’s OK, we don’t want to offend you,’ but the bangs kept coming, NO, NO, NO. ‘All right we won’t,’ I responded as if speaking to a sullen child. The thumping noises slowed, and then started up again. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach as I tried to placate the unhappy entity. ‘It’s OK, we can all live together and be friends.’ My pleading appeared to go unnoticed as the thumps continued. I sighed heavily with exasperation, looking to Tracey for help.

  ‘Why are you angry, is it because you don’t want a book being written?’ Tracey said, as the banging continued. ‘I don’t understand,’ she said, throwing her hands up.

  ‘It’s something he’s not happy with,’ Josie said, stating the obvious.

  ‘Are you angry?’ Tracey asked. It responded NO and the thumps ceased.

  ‘Are you happy to leave things the way things are?’ I asked. YES was the response. ‘OK, you can come down and talk to us in the pub.’ YES it responded quickly. ‘And nowhere else.’ I hastily added, regretting my earlier offer of friendship. The table tapped four times. It began to move and shift as if the entity had grown bored with us asking so many questions.

  ‘It just touched my leg.’ Neil jumped in surprise. Bang. The table shook under the strain and began to rock back and forth. Tracey and I tried to steady the table by holding it down, but it continued to rock from side to side. I looked at Neil for assistance, but he was scanning the room, embarrassed by the amount of attention we were attracting.

  Lee gulped back the last of his drink and nodded towards the door as he stood to leave.

  ‘We’re going now, goodbye,’ I whispered hastily into thin air. The table juddered to a halt. Our exit through the front doors was signalled by a loud beep.

  We shoved our way through the double doors to the fresh air outside and erupted into giggles. Tracey thanked us for inviting her. She turned to walk to her car and another beep echoed throughout the car park.

  ‘He’s saying goodbye,’ she chuckled. I waved her off, and told Lee we would arrange another night soon.

  Questions spun like cobwebs in my head as I tried to sleep that night. I thought of the amount of times I admonished Neil for carrying on contact with the entity, yet I was finding myself being sucked in. It was too late to turn away, and I needed answers. Was it a lost soul, or was it manipulating us, waiting to strike? I lifted my head to see the red glow of my bedside clock flash midnight. I closed my eyes to sleep, pushing my concerns to the back of my mind.

  I arranged to attend the pub the following week with Neil and Lee, and brought a video camera in hope of filming evidence. I left the camera running for twenty minutes with no activity recorded.

  ‘You’re not going to catch it on camera, it won’t let you,’ Neil said.

  Bored, I turned it off. A cold breeze kissed my hand as I rested it on the table. ‘Can you feel that breeze?’ I asked Neil.

  Neil nodded in response and asked the entity a question. ‘Will you ever do anything on camera?’ The response was NO.

  I began to pick at my drink’s cardboard placemat. ‘Is it because you are not allowed?’ he asked. The response was NO followed by a soft sigh in my ear. I squirmed at the contact.

  ‘Is your wife with us?’ Lee asked. It tapped YES. Lee mentioned hearing female voices in the past, and he seemed convinced the entity had a wife.

  ‘Are you planning on leaving anytime soon?’ I asked. Two sharp raps answered my question, signalling NO. I laughed nervously, not exactly the answer I was hoping for.

  Lee interjected, ‘Never mind soon, are you ever planning on leaving?’ The response was YES. Lee smiled, the relief visible on his face.

  I tried to reason with the entity. ‘I think you should. I think you would probably be happier. It can’t be very nice. Living in a place where no one…’ My sentence was interrupted by a sigh followed by numerous tapping noises, which were growing stronger.

  Neil flashed me a worried look.

  ‘I’m going to stop talking now,’ I said, sinking back into my chair. Tap, tap, tap, they continued. I bit my lip, wishing I’d remembered any offer of help or sympathy was one sure fire way of pissing off our communicator.

  Lee chuckled. ‘We will have this with us forever.’

  Neil leaned into the table, ‘Are you happy with me and Lee?’ YES knocked the response. ‘Do you like Chris,’ Neil asked. The NO response was immediate. ‘He never does like Chris,’ Neil said, crunching ice cubes in his mouth. I recalled Neil telling me the entity had always communicated a dislike for his friend, although he did not know why.

  ‘Well don’t mention me,’ I warned. I did not want to know the answer to that question. Lee gestured to Neil and said, ‘Do you like both of us?’ The response was YES.

  ‘Sad though, isn’t it. Do you not think?’ I said, my sympathy returning.

  Neil shrugged, unconcerned. ‘Are you happy?’ he said, and it tapped YES in reply.

  ‘Yes?’ I said in surprise, looking at the empty seats across from us, imagining our invisible guest sitting and watching.

  Lee shook his head, ‘I don’t know how.’

  I picked at the last of the placemat. �
��I don’t know either, I can’t imagine that.’

  ‘Are you trapped?’ Lee asked. The response was YES.

  Perhaps a medium could help free it, I thought, wondering how to word it without offending our communicator. I took a deep breath, ‘I’m not going to ask for help…’ I was interrupted by tapping, softly at first, then gaining momentum. I opened my mouth to speak, and Neil shot me a warning look, ‘No, don’t.’ But it was too late. He read my mind, I thought as the taps gained intensity and the large heavy table began rocking from side to side. Nerves bubbled up inside me at the show of strength and I immediately retracted my statement. ‘I said I wasn’t going to ask,’ I stammered. Bang. The table jumped in reaction to the invisible weight raining down.‘ Oh! Fucking hell,’ I swore, the ferocity of the bangs shook me from my complacency. Bang. The table jumped again. Such strength, what if it uses that force on us? We tried to hold down the table by leaning on it, but it was no use. It was going to break if this carried on. ‘All right,’ I said, the entity had made its feelings very clear.

  ‘Say Sorry,’ Neil whispered through gritted teeth. The table lifted an inch from the ground in response, and banged loudly as its weight struck the floor. I felt as if I was trying to control a bucking bronco. Onlookers at the bar craned their heads in our direction.

  I leaned on the table and whispered, ‘Sorry! I’m sorry. I didn’t say it out loud. I wasn’t going to ask, I didn’t ask. If you are happy that’s up to you.’ The response was two more violent bangs as the table shuddered under the strain.

  Neil stood up, his brow furrowed in annoyance. ‘Fucking Hell, people are looking, let’s go.’

  ‘Right,’ I whispered sternly to thin air, as if telling off a naughty child, ‘we’re leaving now. It’s getting out of hand.’ I picked up my bag and followed the others towards the door. A loud beep made my shoulders jerk upwards. I looked down, too embarrassed to take in the onlooker’s expressions of bewilderment. Beep, it went again. We stood outside the pub wondering what to do next. Kicked out of a pub for the first time in my life – by a ghost. I felt well and truly admonished. It was my fault the evening had come to such an abrupt end, and I wanted to know why. ‘Why does it get so angry when we offer help?’ I asked Neil, waving away the offer of a cigarette.

  ‘It’s OK, he’s done that with us too. It’s natural to want to help, but we don’t know what we’re dealing with. Mike has a theory that the entity thinks of us as inferior, here for his entertainment. It sees itself as way more powerful than us. The fact we would offer help is an insult.’ I nodded slowly as I tried to take it in. Were we just playthings to a powerful force? Neil and Lee decided to attend another pub, after dropping me off home. I needed time to think; my quest for answers left me more confused than ever before.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  A Fearful Journey

  Manifestations continued in the pub. Even going to the toilet was an opportunity for activity as the door handle was depressed back and forth, only for Neil to rush it open to find nobody there. Bawls rang through the air as the sounds grew in strength. Pub customers sometimes reacted with alarm, but most of the time it went unnoticed due to their joviality or disbelief.

  Things took an unwanted twist one balmy Sunday evening, when Neil’s brother Mark offered to drive to the pub. Neil jumped in the passenger seat and turned around to greet Chris and Lee who were sitting behind him. Minutes into the journey Neil shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

  ‘What’s wrong with you?’ Mark asked.

  ‘It’s poking me,’ Neil replied, as a bony finger poked his back. ‘Ow, stop it.’

  ‘We’ll be there in a minute,’ Mark said.

  ‘Oh fucking hell, this thing is pulling my jacket, it’s pushing the car seat up from underneath too.’ Neil strained against his seat belt and clutched his side. ‘Oh! It’s grabbing me. I don’t like it, stop the car.’ Fear grabbed Neil like a vice, and he struggled to stay calm. He dialled Mike’s number to speak to him, but conversation was difficult as the prods and pokes became stronger.

  Mark tried to calm Neil down, ‘Just hang on, we’ll be there in a minute.’

  Lee squirmed in his seat. ‘It’s grabbing me too, it’s pulling my hood.’

  Chris intervened, ‘Calm down guys, we’re nearly there.’

  Neil squealed as icy fingers bit hard into his flesh, pinching his sides. ‘Stop it, I don’t like it!’ he shouted. With no apparent response, he turned to his brother. ‘Mark, stop the car, I need to get out.’ Pandemonium ensued as both Neil and Lee continued to be attacked by invisible hands.

  ‘Get off me!’ Lee shouted, rocking the car as he bounced in his seat, kicking out into thin air.

  ‘He’s punching me. No, please stop,’ Neil begged as blows mercilessly rained down on his head. Neil undid the buckle of his safety belt and reached for the door handle in panic. ‘I’ve got to get out of here. Please, Mark stop the car!’

  Mark screeched the car to a halt and pulled over on the side of the road. Clouds of dust rose from the dirt track.

  Neil and Lee stumbled out of the car, waving off their attacker as if chased by an angry swarm of bees. After catching their breath, Neil and Lee sat back in the car. Mark turned the ignition and pushed it into gear, driving towards the pub in sight. As Mark drove, the ding ding of the car alarm signalled that Neil had not buckled his seat belt. He was too busy bracing himself from further attack.

  ‘Oh here we go, it’s started again,’ Neil jolted in his seat, trying to avoid the pinches and grabs, ‘get off me,’ he shouted between clenched teeth.

  ‘It’s OK, we’re here now,’ Mark said as he pulled into the pub car park. The men quickly alit from the car and entered the pub.

  Mark was in awe of the activity. ‘What did it feel like?’ he asked, placing the drinks on the table.

  ‘Awful,’ Neil replied. ‘I could feel its fingers when it pinched me.’

  ‘Did it hurt you?’

  Neil rubbed his head as he replied, ‘It hurt at the time, like a kind of burning sensation.’

  Mark cocked his shaven head to one side, ‘Huh, I’d like to feel it.’

  ‘Stick your hand under the table and you will,’ Neil said as he watched the grin evaporate from Mark’s face. After some persuading, Mark slowly put his hand under the table. He was rewarded with an ice-cold grasp. Mark pulled his hand back as if electrified. ‘Shit,’ Mark said, shaking his hand. ‘That was weird.’

  Chris and Lee nodded. It was a game they played many times before. ‘It grabbed my hand once, and I tried to pull it back, just to see what it looked like,’ Chris said, ‘but it let go.’

  ‘Sod that,’ Mark said, still uneasy from the contact.

  ‘It’s pretty amazing though,’ Chris said.

  Neil nodded. He had no intention of putting his hand under the table. He did not want to play that game anymore.

  The following week Neil arrived home after picking up his car from the garage. He frowned, deep in thought. He had applied to become a taxi driver but the odds seemed against him as everything went wrong. His car was due for a mechanical test and was causing him countless problems. Warning lights flashed across the dashboard, but after running extensive tests, they were unable to find anything wrong. He dropped the car keys on the dining room table along with the new satellite navigation system he bought the day before. A few minutes later he returned to the dining room and noticed both items missing. Despite turning the house inside out, both items seemed to have disappeared into the ether.

  His stress grew as the debts mounted. It cost hundreds of pounds to research unknown faults with his car, replace his missing sat nav, and replace his car key. His newly fitted taxi meter refused to work and had to be changed. Was the entity doing everything it could to stop him going to work? His questions appeared to be answered the next day as he drove to Colchester to change his taxi meter. Lee asked if he could come along for the trip. Neil was happy to have the company and chatted as they drove. Banging noises co
ming from the rear of the car interrupted their conversation. Neil strained to listen.

  ‘Can you hear that?’ he asked, turning down the radio.

  ‘Sounds like it’s coming from the boot,’ Lee said, listening intently.

  Neil searched for a place to pull over, but the road was too busy. His palms became clammy on the steering wheel. The last thing he wanted was an incident while he was driving. A loud clunk reverberated throughout the vehicle as something heavy hit the roof of the car.

  ‘What the hell?’ Lee said. ‘You better pull over mate.’

  ‘I’m trying,’ Neil said, parking the car on some wasteland at the side of the road. He jumped out of the car, wary of the oncoming traffic. His magnetic taxi sign, which had been fitted the week before, was no longer on the roof of the car.

  Lee opened his door and stared, mesmerised. The sign clung to the side of the car and on the roof was a tin of paint.

  Neil’s voice lowered to a whisper, ‘He must have been trying to take it off, but it was too strong.’ The tin of paint sitting on top of the car dispelled any thoughts that the sign was faulty. ‘Help me with this,’ Neil grunted as traffic zoomed by. He did not have time to think as he strained to place the magnetic taxi sign back on the roof. He grabbed the half empty tin of paint and threw it back in the boot where it came from. Neil sat back into the car and made the appointment with minutes to spare.

  An hour later, Neil stood back and admired the fitter’s handiwork. The meter worked, his car was ready, and a tingle of pleasure ran through him as he looked forward to working again. His satisfaction was short-lived however, when his thoughts returned to the incident earlier that day. Neil paid for the work and climbed back into the car, praying for an uneventful journey. He drove in silence, trying to negotiate his way out of traffic. His concentration was broken as strange noises reverberated throughout the car.

  ‘Can you hear that?’ Lee whispered anxiously.

  ‘I can hear it,’ Neil said, quickly glancing upwards, ‘it’s moving in the roof lining.’ Neil pressed his foot on the accelerator. If I can just get home. His thoughts were interrupted by the pop, pop, pop noises of metal being depressed inside the car. The car panels began to bang louder, as if being punched. Neil turned up the radio and sped home, ignoring the commotion. Relief swept over him as he pulled into his drive unharmed. He ran his hand over the car expecting dents, but there were none. ‘Would you like to come in for a coffee?’ Neil asked Lee, who appeared shaken. He felt bad about the house ban and reasoned a coffee would only take a few minutes. Lee nodded. Neil glanced at his car window. Something was missing. ‘Where’s my tax disc?’ Neil asked, scanning the inside of the car.