Haunted House Flipper

Chapter 2

I walked toward the middle of the small room and pointed my light at the box. It looked to be about 8 inches on all sides. It was made out of a dark rich wood, and decorated with delicate swooping carved lines. I walked forward and lifted the lid. It opened with a soft smooth swing. The interior of the box was lined with black silk. Inside of it sat a pair of glasses and a plain silver ring. Above them, on the bottom of the lid, was an inscription sewn into the silk padding.

It said:

Use these tools in the service of others.

"Tools?" I wondered aloud.

I left the box open and walked around the podium to the table. It was about six feet wide, a couple feet deep, and about thirty-six inches tall. I know, that's a specific number right? Remember, I was a realtor. Thirty-six inches is the standard height for kitchen cabinets and that's about how tall the table was. A thick black silk cloth was draped over the table to match the interior of the box on the podium. I was expecting to find something on it, but nothing was there.

I walked back to the small box. I wondered who these strange little treasures belonged to. The inscription in the box made it seem like they were here for someone to find and take to be used as tools, whatever that meant. I reached forward and picked up the glasses. They had black rectangular frames. The design used to be considered really dorky, but it has actually come back into style over the last several years. They looked like standard issue glasses I had seen on a lot of soldiers while showing houses to military families. After inspecting them for a moment, I tried them on.

Immediately I saw something start to glow on the table. I looked over and saw a sword. It lay on the table glowing with an intense light. I stumbled backward, not sure what was going on. I took the glasses off. The sword and its radiant glow vanished. I put the glasses back on and it reappeared. I collected myself and walked one steady step at a time toward the table. The sword that lay on the silk draped table looked like something out of a fantasy movie. I've since researched swords a little so now I know how to describe it. It has a cross-guard, a grip just long enough for two hands, and a pommel at the end of the hilt. It has a double edged blade like a fifteenth century longsword. That said, I've never seen anything quite like it in all of the internet research sessions I've done. Also it glows with a bright light.

I reached out for the sword, trying to grab it, but my hands went right through it. This was getting really weird. I tried again carefully attempting to touch the sword at various places. It was as if it wasn't there. It was mesmerizing pushing my hand through the blade. I took the glasses off and looked at them. I figured they were producing some kind of hologram of the sword on the table. That must have been it. My level of unease shrank back a bit, but I still found the whole room to be very creepy. What was its purpose?

I put the glasses back on and looked at the sword again. I had never seen technology with such high resolution. It looked like the sword was really there. I walked back over to the box to look at the ring inside of it. It sat on the black silk, a plain silver band. I picked it up and tried it on. It slipped easily onto the ring finger of my right hand.

Nothing in the room changed. No new holograms appeared anywhere that I could see. I rotated my hand looking at the ring sitting snugly on my finger. It fit well. I was about to take it off and put it back in the box when I read the inscription again.

Use these tools in the service of others.

Why would it call: a pair of glasses, jewelry, and a hologram of a sword, tools? Other than the glasses the only thing that I could see being described as a tool was the sword. But then it did say tools. I could not see the sword without the glasses. I wondered if all three of these items were meant to be used together. I walked back over to the silken table.

I reached out to touch the handle of the sword and jumped back when I felt a solid surface. This time my finger had not gone through the image of the sword. Instead I felt cold metal. Now I was really freaking out.

I reached down again and this time grabbed at the sword. I lifted it and held it up.

Had someone come in here through a secret panel and put a real sword on the table while I was looking at the ring? I wondered.

I reached up and put the glasses on the table. The glowing sword disappeared, but I could still feel it in my hand. I put the glasses back on and then set the sword down on the table. Then I slipped the ring off of my finger. When I tried to grab the sword again, my hand went right through it. That's when I realized it was all real.

Some sort of magic was at play here. These things let me interact with something beyond our natural world. I fell to the ground and sat shaking. I wondered if somehow I was experiencing some kind of realistic nightmare or something. This could not be happening.

After I closed my eyes, and focused on slowing my breathing, I stood up. I put the ring back on my finger, and held the sword. It was huge but light as a feather. I swung it around and accidentally swung the blade into the podium holding the box. The blade went right through it. I tried to actively hit it with the sword, but the sword acted as if it had to my flash when I was not wearing the ring. I tried to hit the wall of the room with the sword. It went right through that too. I tried stabbing the box on the podium, and it was the same. So what was this sword for? Was this just some sort of magical toy or something?

My phone beeped letting me know I had an email. That snapped me out of it. I remembered the clients who I had already been late to show a house to across town, but I wasn't about to leave these treasures behind. After all, the inscription on the box said to use them. So I kept the ring and glasses on and slid the sword between my belt and my pants on my left side. I took one last look at the inscription in the box and then closed it. I headed back to the ladder wondering if I had missed the bus.