Phantom Lens

Chapter 5

They were upstairs in bed, Harmony between them and Caleb in a bassinet, when Noah looked over at his wife, "I know what you're thinking."

"I thought you didn't believe in psychics and stuff," Gwen whispered back, a slight playfulness in her voice.

"I don't have to. It's written all over your face," Noah scoffed.

"What is?"

"You're thinking this all has to do with the paranormal and you want to write about it in one of your little stories," Noah answered. "I knew you wouldn't be able to keep your promise. You broke it in less than twenty-four hours when you brought in that crazy woman."

"Sonya isn't crazy. She's a medium and she's legit. Besides, I only brought her here because I was scared," Gwen admitted.

"Being afraid of the dark isn't a good enough reason to bring a medium into our home," Noah chastised.

"Do you know why I'm afraid of the dark? It's not the dark itself but what it represents."

"What does it represent?" her husband asked with a yawn.

"The unknown. Those things that go bump in the night. They could be anything: a burglar, your imagination, or maybe even a ghost. Sometimes not knowing is scarier than the truth."

"Well we know what we saw tonight wasn't a ghost. I felt him knock me over. I don't understand why I didn't see him though. How did he hide form me?"

Gwen wanted to tell her husband he was wrong and that it was a ghost but she opted not to. It wouldn't be wise to upset him after the night they all had.

"I'll call a security company and get a quote on an alarm system," Noah said.

She picked up her phone and turned it on, "You saw that image just like I did. His eyes were dark...almost like oil. Didn't that scare you?"

Noah waited a few beats before answering, "I did see it. For a moment it freaked me out but then I remembered something."

"What?"

"Ghosts don't exist. Gwen, I know you want to tell me that what I saw was some kind of demon or poltergeist but it wasn't. It was just a man probably wearing a Halloween mask or something."

"It doesn't make sense though Noah."

"What doesn't?"

"First the picture in Harmony's room, then the text message, and now a burglar dressed like some villain from a horror flick. What about those pictures from the basement. How do pictures change, Noah?"

"You probably remembered them wrong or something."

"You saw them too. She wasn't asking for help the first time," Gwen reminded him. "What if spirit photography really does exist? What if what I saw in Harmony's picture really was a spirit?"

"Honestly, I don't even remember the pictures. So like I said...you probably remembered them incorrectly. Please stop with the spirit photography stuff Gwen. "

Gwen persisted, "What about Harmony? Don't you think it's weird that she's speaking Spanish all of a sudden when neither of us can? Where did she learn it?"

"She probably saw it on television or something. Isn't there a cartoon about a little girl with a monkey that speaks Spanish? She probably learned it from that."

"Are you kidding me right now?" Gwen asked; disbelief etched on her face.

"No. Where else do you think she learned it from? That imaginary friend she keeps talking about?" Noah asked facetiously.