Samuel Rand, Ghost Hunter Part Two: Back To The Beginning

Catastrophe

Suddenly, my vision went red. I had always had one heck of a temper, and while my red hair might not be the cause of it, as in the legends, it certainly didn't help. Fueled by rage, pain, and adrenaline, I wrested myself from the client's grasp and charged toward the darkened doorway, faster than I could've ever dreamed, and leaped over the chain that spanned the door. If I wasn't so angry, I might have been more careful, but my only thought was of revenge.

As I landed, I scooped up a rapier that happened to be lying by my foot. I turned carefully, watching for any sign of the ghost. Suddenly, I saw a point of light. Red light. More red lights. And then, as I listened carefully, I heard the panting. It was close. Too close. I tried to leap backward, but stumbled over something behind me. A glance down confirmed that it was a corpse. Bile rose in my throat as the rapier flew from my hand and I landed hard on my back. I tried to rise, but couldn't get my arms to work.

Then, and only then did I realized what I was staring at. The ghost was right in front of me, not fifty feet away. The paralysis must be one of the symptoms of the Fear, which was what the ghost hunting community was calling the effect of seeing ghost. I had to look away, or I would shortly die! Already I could feel my body shutting down! Putting all my strength into my neck, I laboriously turned my head to the right, the direction of the door.

As I did so, I could see the client running full pelt towards the entryway. I tried to call out and warn her, but I couldn't open my mouth. As she crossed the threshold, she tripped on the chains strung along it. She hit the ground with a massive "whoomph" of air, and looked up. Big mistake. Fixed squarely in her sightline was the ghost of Berkley square. The ghost moved off to investigate this new human, and as it did so, it shifted out of my sight. I swiftly regained feeling in my arms and legs, but knew I would only have a few seconds to act. Sure enough, one minute later, a third scream clawed my ears and the client went limp.