SaraLee's Territory

It was a haunted hotel. Old, run-down, it looked dangerous to be in. I walked across the lawn and to the doors.

I'd been in it before, but more and more, I had this feeling of dread---Like I was pushing my luck. Every time I entered, it increased the danger, and one of these times, the hotel was going to kill me.

It felt like this was the time. This time I was going to die.

I opened the door. Inside, I could see furniture, broken and dirty. I looked through the door for a moment, feeling more and more afraid.

Then I stepped inside.

I woke up suddenly, sitting up in bed. I exhaled. 

Just a nightmare.

I got out of bed, wearing my Yeti pajamas. I walked down the hall to the bathroom. Little Rosie, the lab puppy, joined me on the trip, coming out of my son's room.

Standing in the hall for a moment, I fell into a habit Id' developed during COVID. I thought, Today is Thursday. I'm working at one. On desk at two. Program tonight. I'd begun rolling these thoughts around in my head whenever I woke up, as a way of keeping track.

Rosie followed me back down the hallway.

"Good girl. Now go back to bed."
Rosie retreated to Paul's room, and I went back to my own. I could hear Ida in the hall, disembodied footsteps walking back and forth. It was a relief to wake up in my own haunted house, with the ghost I'm used to.

"Excuse me. Are you Lou?"

"That's me." I looked up, with a sinking feeling. The guy at the desk was familiar, and I realized he was the same guy who'd been sending me messages all morning, trying to convince me that his phone app was reliable for ghost-hunting. I'd stopped responding; he wasn't about to be persuaded that it was a cheap toy.

Looks like he'd tracked me down.

"Yeah, I wanted to show you this app. It's actually really legitimate, I've checked it out. I was up in the cemetery, and it was giving me all sorts of statements. It works on a laser grid that can detect human shapes---"

I held up a hand. "Look, I know all about these apps. They're clearly labeled as entertainment only. I prefer not to trust them."

"But this one's really good. Look at the human shape I got---"

"They're made to interpret just about anything as a human shape," I said. "Fog. Branches. The same with the sounds---They are programmed to randomly create words. If you didn't find anything, you wouldn't pay for the app."

'It's free."

"You trying to tell me that someone invented an app that genuinely detects dead people, and decided the best use was to hand it out free?"

"I'd really like to check it out in here," he said. "I understand Miss Ross is haunting the place?"

I thought it over. "Well, it's a public library," I said. "As long as you're sticking to the public areas and not bothering anyone, you're welcome to come in and do whatever."

"I'd rather do it at night."

"We're open until eight."

"I was hoping for maybe a little more than that," he said. "Maybe you let me in overnight? Ghost hunter to ghost hunter?"

I shook my head. "Can't do that."

"Come on, man," he said. "Just because I use an app? We could be partners."

I shook my head again.

"I already have partners."

"What we need," I said,"Is an investigation."
I sat in the living room, Millie to my right, SaraLee to my left. Ashlin was across from me in the recliner. 

"What we need are a couple more members," said Millie.

"That's true," I agreed. "We need to find a couple of good people. But we're also out of practice. We need to get better at being a team again. For that matter, since it came up....Look, when Theresa left, we never really held a vote on the new leader. Everyone just kind of turned to me. I realize it was never officialized, so....I wanted to correct that. If anyone else wants to step up, I'm cool with that."

Millie shook her head. "You were second in command. It should be you."

"Agreed," said Ashlin.

"Am I hearing you right, Lou?" asked SaraLee. "You're finding it too much, or something?"

"No, I'm not. In fact, I haven't been great at at," I admitted. "I'll keep doing it if that's what we all want. I just realized that we never formalized it."

She smiled. "I'm right behind you."
"Okay, then. We need to get back to working as a team. I bought us all matching masks," I said. I handed everyone a mask; they all said "I'm with a ghost." "Now we need to find a way to practice."

"There's still my place," said SaraLee.

"I'm cool with that." I said. "Let's pick a date. We're going to Bellefonte."

Ashlin pulled up to pick me up on time, and Paul ran out to give her a hug. Paul has adored Ashlin since he was one year old. Ashlin hugged him, and said,"How you doing there, buddy?"

"Good," said Paul. "You and Daddy going to find a ghost tonight?"

"Hope so," said Ashlin.

"What time will you be home, Daddy?" he asked.

"Hopefully about eight-thirty."
"Okay."

I gave him a hug and a kiss, and he turned and trudged back toward the house, looking glum. I got into Ashlin's car.

"He gets upset when I have to leave," I said. "It bothers him when I'm not around."

"Probably a COVID thing," said Ashlin. "Anxiety."

"Yeah," I said. "Been feeling some anxiety myself."

We pulled up in front of SaraLee's house a little after six. The clocks had been set back the night before, so now it was getting dark in about two minutes every day at three-thirty. I was wearing my uniform and the black jacket with all the buttons, and I grabbed my pack and rang the doorbell.

SaraLee came to the door, and I gave her a hug. 

"Happy birthday, pal," I said, and handed her a book. She sat down on the couch and began paging through it.

"It's Mountain Folks," I said. "A bunch of good legends and stories from our area. I thought you might like it."

"Thank you," she said. "Got you something, too." She handed me a small Bigfoot coloring book---"That's for Paul," she said---A Bigfoot figurine and two UFO stickers.

"Got these in my travels," she said. "I thought of you."
I smiled. "Thanks, pal."

We all sat down in the living room.

"Calvin," called SaraLee. "Bring my stuff."

"Why?" called a voice from the next room.

"Because I asked you to."

A moment later, SaraLee's son Calvin came in with a hard plastic case. He set it down in front of her, and she opened it up. She had it filled with equipment, and she pulled each item out.

"REM pod," she said. "Digital recorder. Laser thermometer from my bestie....Light ball...."

"A light ball?" Millie asked. "Haven't heard of those."

"Well, it's a cat toy," admitted SaraLee. "But it lights up when anyone bumps it, and it comes in sets of twelve for about a buck."

"A trigger object," I realized. "But a trigger object that you'd notice when it happened. That's actually pretty brilliant."

She smiled.

I unpacked my stuff. "Got two cameras, two laser thermometers, digital recorder, my K2 meter...."

"You got a black one," Millie commented.

"Yeah, I just grabbed the cheapest one on Amazon. Who wants what?"

I began to pull my fingerless gloves on. The new ones had skulls on them. Ashlin said,"Those are new."

"Making a few changes to the outfit," I said. "I'm going a little goth. Skulls on the gloves and boots."

"Are you having a midlife crisis, Lou?" Millie asked.

"Almost certainly. But still making an effort not to look like a cop or a terrorist."

"Yeah, that makes sense."

I grinned.

"Let's get to work."

"We get activities in all the bedrooms," said SaraLee as we walked down the hall. "We can spread out and cover them all."

"Last time, we had someone in the hallway," I said. "I'll cover that."

"Master bedroom," called Ashlin.

Millie went into one of the kid bedrooms, and SaraLee and Calvin took the other. I set down my K2 meter and my digital recorder.

"Turning on. It's November 7, six forty-five PM, SaraLee's house in Bellefonte. Lou, in the hallway."

"Ashlin, master bedroom."
"SaraLee and Calvin, Chloe's bedroom."

"Millie, Calvin's room."

"Is there anyone here?" I asked.

We let the recorders run for a while---An actual EVP session is not the most exciting thing to describe---And then my recorder beeped. 

"What the hell?"

"What's up?" asked Ashlin.

"My recorder went dead. These were fresh batteries."

"Weird."

"I just charged these."

'I have a light in here," said Millie. "Green light, on the wall!"
"Get photos and readings," I called.

"The DVD player just went on in here," said SaraLee. 

"Cat ball is lighting up," Ashlin said. "I'm getting photos."
Camera flashes began going off. I called out,"Ashlin, do you have a good angle on Millie?"

"Not really. I can see the REM pod and the bed, but not much else."

"Okay, I'm getting photos. You concentrate on what you can see from there."

I moved down the hall and into the bedroom, where Millie was sitting on the bed with her EMF detector. She pointed at the wall. "Right there."

I snapped photos, turning throughout the room to get every angle. Then I moved throughout the hallway and back down into the other bedroom, where SaraLee and Calvin were taking measurements. I snapped some photos of the DVD player, which had turned off again.

"Everything all at once," I said. "That's pretty impressive."

"The DVD player just came on, and then off again."
"Mark it on the recorders," I said. "Seven-ten PM. We got this."

After the investigation, we packed up. I gave SaraLee a hug. 

"Thanks, pal," I said. "See you at the next meeting."

"Thanks for coming over," she said.

We went out and climbed into Ashlin's car. She pulled back out into the street.

"Good investigation," I said.

"Yeah," agreed Ashlin. "It was."

"Cat balls," I said. "Hunh."

When Ashlin pulled up in front of my place, Paul immediately came running off the porch to greet me. I gave him a hug.

"Tell me you weren't sitting out here in the cold all night."
"No, I just came out."

"Okay, good. How's Rosie?"

"She misses you."

I smiled.

"Well, I miss her, too," I said. "Let's go in and say hi."