Dream Child

Chapter Thirteen

Once Amanda had fallen asleep in his arm, Eric extracted himself and headed straight for his laptop. Not wanting to leave her alone, he came back into the bedroom and settled himself next to her.

He began to look up experiences that she was describing and was astounded at the number of paranormal encounters that people were posting across the world.

Trying to narrow it down, he believed that he had stumbled across several things that could explain what was going on.

He came across a couple of references to the Bible when he searched for the return of spirit; the search engine had brought up Matthew 12: 43-44.

" When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he comes, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished."

Not clearly understanding what he was reading, he found the New International Version where he could better the meaning:  "When an unclean spirit comes out of a man, it passes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' On its arrival, it finds the house vacant, swept clean and put in order."

According to the Bible, an unclean spirit will return to the house it left. In researching more on this verse, he discovered that it was in reference to a demonic spirit that was cast out of a person. The unclean spirit refers to a demonic spirit that will return to the person it was cast out, checking to see if the person has become weak; essentially allowed an opening for it to inhibit the "house" again.

However, a demon cannot enter a person's body just because it wanted to, in order for possession to happen, a person would have to give permission for it to enter.

Though interesting, he did not believe that his five-year-old daughter had invited a demonic spirit into her body.

He was also coming across a lot of pages and articles that pointed to a spirit being attached to a particular item. Though it was not possible to 100% prove that the entity was attached to that item, once it was removed from the home, things became normal again. The activity described was very similar to the things Amanda had experienced.

Footsteps, sounds, a sense of being watched, cold spots, things moving around, etc. Many of these experts in the paranormal stated that a person who had passed on would have handled this object daily, even if it was briefly. The attachment was not dependent on their interaction with the particular item, but what was going on in their life at the moment. These things can carry the characteristics, or the essence, of the person after they have passed over; some objects have very strong emotions woven into them. Wither the emotions are negative or positive, the person who owned the item may be drawn back to it.

He glanced up and across the room at the blanket that lay folded on their dresser, the same blanket that Amanda had slept with every night in the other house, but it wasn't there.

He was beginning to wonder if the pregnancy and the blanket had ties to each other. The sighting of their "daughter" had come on the same day that she had found out she was pregnant. He wasn't sure what had brought on what happened tonight, he would have to ask where the blanket was, and what she may have been doing prior to her nap on the porch.

He also found that demons take on the form of a loved one that had passed recently, and manipulate the targeted person by pretending to be a recently lost loved one. Or, they could be dealing with a poltergeist. Poltergeists thrive in an environment rampant with heavy human emotions, though in most cases, the emotions are of fear, terror, rage, and frustration. In their case, it would have been brought on her grief. They like to haunt families and places and are usually violent with deep feelings of hatred and spite towards humans.

Poltergeist requires negative emotion to survive and they accomplish this by wreaking havoc and causing disturbances in the homes and lives those they are haunting. They usually take energy from one person, in particular, thus explaining why these things were happening specifically to Amanda.

Eric saved several articles for reference later and searched for things that they could do around the house to help ward off the sightings and protect her from the spirit.

Basil seemed to be a protective herb that he could use, though it was not the strongest, this herb would ward off minor spirits.

But he didn't believe that they were dealing with something minor. This entity was invading her dreams and physically able to touch her, which, he had read ghosts do not usually do.

He came across carob frequently, which is used in health and protection, cumin and salt mixed together, then placed on window sills and doorways would prevent evil from entering as well as dill. Sage was another one that would help to cleanse the home and drive away negative energy.

Sighing and rolling his neck to release the tension, he saved all that he found decided he would  buy them tomorrow and start to try to protect the house.

 Shutting his laptop, he sat it on his night standand glanced down at his wife.   She was so pale; the normal glow that she had acquired from the sun and pregnancy had vanished. He was so angry at whatever this thing was; it was trying to take away another daughter and his wife. He didn't believe that this was Jenny, there was no way that this was his daughter. Something had slipped into the cracks of their lives and had laid dormant until she became and stayed pregnant.

There had been nothing out of the ordinary at their old house, there were no sounds, nothing moving... nothing scary at all. So where did this come from? And why did it want to kill Amanda?

He sighed again and slid his body down on the bed and wrapped his arms around his wife, resting his hand on her stomach.