the hauntings of isla thatcher / S&C | completed

Estes Method

Sam thought of ways to take the attention away from Colby and how he was behaving towards Hazel. "I think it's time to start the Estes method. Find out who this Tom person is and what their background is." Sam said.

"Also what his connection is to Isla or the Flower House." Nate added.

While they gathered their belongings to move to another place to start the Estes method, Nate couldn't help but think about the incident that happened between Colby and Hazel. Why would he say that she's related to Isla? Was there truly any proof of his assumption? What happened to Colby to make him act that way?

"Who wants to use it first?" asked Sam as he pulled the item out of his backpack. Nate raised his finger to touch his nose, Colby followed along and Sam touched his. That left Hazel the last one to do so and after asking if she was okay with doing it, she ultimately agreed.

"What is the Estes Method?" Hazel asked as she took a seat in the chair that was placed directly in the middle of the room. "It's a radio that channels through different stations and shouts out a bunch of words that only you can hear. You also won't hear the questions we ask so it's very raw." Sam spoke as he handed Hazel the item with the headphones.

"You'll also be blindfolded." Colby adds.

Hazel looked over at Colby, confusion written all over her face. She wasn't sure why he was talking to her, especially after what had happen in the other room. She wasn't sure how to feel about his presence in the room but she couldn't exactly pinpoint what triggered Colby into that kind of behavior. "Maybe we'll get answers this way." Nate said.

It was becoming a little frustrating for the group to hit dead ends in their investigation since they arrived but they all agreed at this very moment, that it was important to find out who Tom was. "Are you ready?" Nate asked, reassuring Hazel that nothing was going to happen during the process and that it wouldn't take long.

Sam tied the blindfold around Hazel and turned the box on, stepping back and standing next to Colby.

"Is there a spirit here?"

"Yes."

"Jesus Christ. I wonder who it is." Said Nate.

"Can you tell us your name?"

Silence.

"If there's a spirit here, can you make a noise or tell us that you are."

Suddenly, there was a soft noise that shuffled behind them. It was almost as though someone was walking in the back. This startled the men. "Possession."

"Holy shit." Sam muttered.

"Did a spirit possess somebody here?"

"Yes."

Chills went through Sam's spine as they all exchanged worried looks.

There wasn't any responses for a few minutes after that but Colby spoke up, tired of waiting. "Can you tell us who Tom is? We heard his name in the other room."

"Related."

"He left..."

"Who is Tom related to?" Sam butt in.

"Wife. House."

"Hazel." Her body shifted as she let out a shaky breath. "I swear to god I heard my name."

"Is this Tom we're speaking to?"

Hazel's head starts to rock back and forth. "Yes. I am.. father."

Nate shuddered. The Estes Method was always something that gave them clear answers, even if the responses didn't line up to the questions they asked. "Are you...Hazel's father?" Colby's voice almost came out hoarse. He was almost afraid of what responses he was going to get.

Hazel nods her head slowly. They didn't want to make this an official answer but it was kind of an eery moment to just let go. Colby wanted to use this as a advantage for what he accused Hazel of but he knew it would be a far reach.

"Pain."

Sam was unsure of what Hazel meant by that but he remembered, shortly after that Isla had a diary that explained everything they had gone through. The stories that stood out the most when they were reading it Isla's relationship with the man who was unnamed. "Tom, are you the unnamed lover that Isla talked about in her diary?"

"Yes."

"Your death affected Isla deeply. Does she know how you died?" Nate asked.

Silence once again but the next words that left Hazel's lips scared them enough to make their hearts race. "I was..."

"Killed." Hazel adds.

"Dude, I think we just got the answers we've been looking for." Nate said, running his hand through his hair. Colby remained quiet as he thought over the entire method and what they captured. Tom is somehow related to Hazel and was killed. Sam took Hazel out from under the headphones and decided it was best to go over what they caught. "Every answer you said lined up with the questions we asked."

"What did you guys catch?" Asked Hazel, fixing her hair and brushing out her shirt.

"We talked to Tom. It was confirmed but one thing that I was shocked by was that Tom said he was killed. We didn't anything else about how he died but I was thinking we might find something in Isla's diary."

Colby wasted no time to bring up another fact. "He said he was your father. Is there something you're hiding from us?"

"You wanna know something, Colby? It's impossible for this Tom spirit to be my father. I don't even know who my dad is and I know damn well that Tom is not related to me."

"But Isla is."

This sent Hazel off. She became angry and stormed out of the room, not listening to Sam's or Nate's calls.

"Dude, what the hell's gotten into you?" Nate asked, punching Colby's arm. They couldn't tell why Colby was being like this or why he kept coming at Hazel. Sam pulled Nate to the side and spoke his concerns about his friend.

"Remember when Hazel said possession when she was under?" asked Sam, glancing back at Colby. "Yes, why?"

Sam sighed. "I don't want to assume but what if we're talking about an actual possession? Something that got possessed during our investigation?"

Nate chuckled as he tried to dismiss Sam's theory but his smile faded when he realized that Sam was being serious. "You're not saying that Colby's possessed?"

"Yes I am and we need to sage him fast."