TOUCHED

TOUCHED Part 5 of 10

In the seconds between Neil dropping his tripod and my shouted warning, I realized three things.

One, I couldn't see the wraith in the room, only the reflection of the mirror.

Two, the wraith simply floated, neither advancing nor retreating, luckily, not attempting to touch Neil, or any of us, at all.

Three, Neil had utterly ignored my warning and didn't move an inch to escape the immediate proximity of the creature floating next to him.

As soon as the three thoughts entered my head, the incorporeal creature vanished from the mirror, leaving Neil standing alone in fright.

"What the hell was that?" Alex shouted, standing now, his skepticism vanished.

"It looked like a wraith." I explained, searching all around us for the monster. "If it returns, don't let it touch you or you'll die."

"Die?" Alex stammered.

Neil, regaining the ability to speak, also answered Alex's question. "It was definitely a spirit from beyond the grave..."

"It was a trick, dumbass." Alex replied, his disbelief in all things supernatural returned. "Someone is trying to scare us away. We're not going to die."

"Corsair." Neil asked, quickly setting up his video camera on the tripod he dropped. "How did you know that was a wraith? Did it look like the one you and Melia encountered? Is it the same one? Did it follow you here?"

"Don't be so gullible." Alex answered for me, moving to examine the mirror closer.

"Exactly like it." I answered Neil, ignoring Alex, doubt creeping into my mind as well. "Exactly the same. Except we could see that wraith with our own eyes. This one was only in the mirror."

Neil began to attach a second video camera to another tripod as I joined Alex at the mirror. "Not plugged into anything." Alex commented as I arrived.

"Very strange." I replied, searching the back of the thick, heavy mirror myself.

"Maybe the image was projected onto the mirror." Alex conjectured as he began scanning the ceiling for an electronic projection device.

"Maybe it was exactly what it appeared to be, Alex." Neil countered, "A ghost like I said."

"Really, idiot?" Alex.

"Please stop calling him an idiot." I asked Alex politely, yet with an unspoken warning in my tone.

"Then what was that?" Neil replied. "We all saw it."

"I don't know." Alex admitted. "But I have four theories.

Please don't ask him. I thought.

"Oh yeah. Four theories already? What're they then?" Neil asked.

Are you serious?

Alex listed his four theories. "Off the top of my head? Electromagnetic fields. A hoax. Infrasound. Mold."

"Really?" Neil shot back. "We saw a wraith with your own eyes, not that other stuff? Why won't you believe what you see right in front of you?"

Please don't get into this again.

Alex explained his theories in-depth as I pondered the impossibility of the wraith Melia and I banished, or another similar creature, appearing in the mansion. "As I'm sure you're aware, if you are as you claim, a paranormal researcher, there are several credible studies on the effects electromagnetic fields on people's perceptions of ghosts. The research hypothesizes that pulsed magnetic fields, completely undetectable on a conscious level, can make people feel as if there is a 'ghost' in the room with them, by causing unusual activity patterns in the brain's temporal lobes."