The Middle Realm Read online

  “You can’t just be careful?” William asked.

  “I’m not as coordinated as I once was,” he said.

  “I find that hard to believe,” William said.

  “You do not talk to me like that. Didn’t your mother teach you to respect your elders?“ the old man asked.

  “Yes, but you are not my elder. I’m older than you,” William said with a smug smile.

  “Why you little son of a -- ” the old man started to say.

  This was ridiculous and unnecessary. This is not the time and place to be arguing. I looked around. There sure were a lot of people here. There is also a lot of equipment that could supposedly pick up on ghosts. I’m actually a little scared right now. This arguing between William and the ghost of the old man had to stop and we needed to get to safety.

  “You guys, stop. Do you want to bring any more attention to yourselves? They have advanced equipment that can easily pick up on us. I would stop right now if I were you,” I said. William was sticking out his tongue at the man, pissing him off even more.

  “Who died and made you queen?” the old man asked me.

  “Leave her alone,” William said.

  At this rate the ghost hunters would have no problem picking up on our presence, what with all the arguing and complaining courtesy of William and Señor Grouchy Pants. This situation was already dangerous enough as it was. Add to that an unwillingness to get along and things could go from bad to worse. We had to work together. I didn’t know how to get it through their heads. I’d had enough of it. I was going to get out of here with or without them.

  “That’s it, I’ve had it. If you guys want to sit and argue, be my guest. I’m getting out of here. I don’t feel like becoming the subject of a National Geographic special about the first real ghost ever captured,” I said.

  This got their attention all right. They stopped and just stared at me. They had been too busy fighting and not getting along that they didn’t hear the head of the paranormal investigative group talking about how he had the equipment to capture an actual spirit.

  “Are you sure you heard correctly?” William asked.

  “She’s probably just saying that to scare us. Aren’t you, girly?” the old guy said.

  “I wish I was, but I’m not. While you were arguing, I heard them talking about it. It may work. It may not. All I know is that I don’t want to be here find out,” I said.

  “Well, we’re absolutely screwed,” William, said. Way to raise our spirits, William. You’re doing such a great job. Keep up the good work.

  “Maybe not. If we work together, we can get out of here safely,” I said.

  “How are we supposed to get out of here safely? They have their equipment everywhere. One wrong move and we’re screwed,” William said.

  “Is someone there? If so, what is you’re name?” a man with a recorder asked. He must have caught something. It was probably William.

  “Or we could use the old guy as bait and then run like hell,” William said.

  “Hey, why do I have to be the bait? It’s because I’m old, isn’t it?” the old man said, “Why don’t we use girly here. She’s beautiful. By the way, the name’s Eugene, but just call me Gene.”

  “Who’s there?” the ghost hunter asked again.

  “Gene, William and Savannah. Now leave us alone,” Gene said. “Now, as I was saying, Savannah would be better bait than me.”

  “Gene, why did you do that?” I asked, scared.

  “Do what?” Gene answered.

  “You told them our names and to leave us alone. Now they know we’re here,” William said.

  Gene did not seem to realize how serious this whole thing was. He didn’t understand that these ghost hunters were trying to capture us. They were not trying to vanish us or be our friend. William seemed to understand the seriousness of the situation. We just needed to somehow get Gene to understand. Just as I was about to say something, there was someone beside us. It was the man with the recorder. I don’t think he knew for sure that we were actually there, but his equipment picked up on something. Great! Of course! Gene couldn’t shut up.

  “He asked us to tell him our names and that’s what I did. Why’s that so wrong?”

  “Gene, please stop talking,” I said quietly.

  “What? You’re going to have to speak up,” Gene said.

  “Dave, I think I picked up something. It sounds like a spirit said, ‘You’re going to have to speak up,’” the man recording said.

  “Talk louder then. I’ll go get more equipment. Try not to lose him,” the man I assume was Dave said.

  “Congratulations Gene. I think you’ve exposed us,” William said.

  What was supposed to be a pleasant trip to the ocean was becoming a nightmare. I knew the odds of these ghost hunters actually catching a live spirit were slim, but it didn’t make me any less afraid. I was still new to the whole being a ghost thing. I didn’t have any experience with this kind of thing. I might have felt a little better if William and Gene were not fighting.

  “Why can’t she speak up more?” Gene asked.

  “Because there’s a man standing behind us whose recording what we’re saying,” William said in a loud whisper.

  Gene turned around and saw the man. He was face-to-face with him. He obviously couldn’t see us, thank God. Gene then turned around and said loudly, “I think that man is trying to record us, we better not talk so loud.”

  William and I just shook our heads. This was going to be a long night.

  The eight ghost hunters were now standing all around us. We kept quiet and stood still. At one point I found myself holding my breath. It’s true when they say old habits die-hard. I looked over to William who was covering Gene’s mouth. Gene was not too happy, but we couldn’t risk him giving us away.

  After a few minutes of trying to figure out what to do, we finally realized that we were ghosts and that we could just disappear if we wanted to. Simple as that. Why we didn’t do just that, I’ll never know. Well, you live and learn. Actually in our case it’s more about learning from your mistakes. It’s kind if hard to live and learn when you’re dead.

  “Wait a minute. What the hell are we doing here? Guys were ghosts. We easily could have left a while ago,” William said.

  “You’re right,” I said, “What are we doing? We could have avoided this whole situation by just disappearing in the first place”

  “We were afraid, and sometimes when you get scared, all common sense goes out the window”, Gene said.

  Gene’s right. We were all so afraid that we forgot that we could easily get out of this situation. When you’re scared, common sense tends to take a backseat to you’re emotions. In my own defense, I’m still new to the whole ghost thing. William should have realized. Then again, we were all so scared that we weren’t thinking straight.

  “Savannah, let’s go. Gene, will you be okay by yourself? Do you need us to escort you to safety?” William asked.

  “Nope, I’ll be fine. You two get back to where you need to be. Good thing you were able to think on you’re feet, young man. Well, I hope you have a good rest of the night,” Gene said before disappearing into the darkness.

  “Thank you, Gene. We better get back,” William said, ”we have had quite a night”

  “I’ll say,” I said.

  With that, William held out his hand to me, and we closed our eyes and were transported back to the countryside.

  Ch. 26

  When we got back to the countryside, we found Whitney, Edgar and Camille sitting under a tree talking amongst them selves.

  “You two were gone quite a while. Did you enjoy yourselves?” Edgar asked.

  “We had an encounter with ghost hunters,” I said.

  A look of concern spread across Edgar, Camille and Whitney’s faces. Edgar got up and walked toward William and I. We could sense the worry radiating from him.

  “They didn’t detect you did they?” Edgar asked.

  “I don’
t think so,” I said.

  “Are you two okay?” Camille asked, concerned. Whitney soon appeared at her side.

  “We’re fine,” I said, “that was one of the scariest moments I’ve ever experienced. Good thing William was able to think clearly or who knows what could have happened to us. If he hadn’t reminded us that we could disappear, we may still be there now”

  “So, William. You’re some kind of hero now?” Edgar asked.

  “Me, a hero? No,” William said.

  “He’s just being humble,” I said, “He is a hero. I wasn’t thinking clearly and neither was Gene, the other ghost who was with us. If it wasn’t for William’s quick thinking, who knows what could have happened”

  “William, I must say, I’m quite impressed by you’re quick thinking. Granted it should have occurred to you much earlier on that you could have gotten out of their sooner and much more safely, I’m still impressed”

  “Thank you, Edgar,” William said, beaming.

  “Letting you join our group was a good decision,” Edgar said. We all nodded in agreement. It was a good decision. We decided to continue on our walk. The night was beautiful. The moon was full and the stars sparkled against an onyx sky. As we made our way down the road, we heard something coming so we moved into the safety of the trees that lined the road.

  Ch. 27

  A little European sports car sped past us, kicking up a cloud of dirt as it went by. Not more than fifteen minutes later we heard the sound of breaks squealing followed by the crunching of metal against wood followed by a crescendo of shattering glass. The sounds echoed loudly in the clear night air. There was no one else around that we could see. As far as I knew, we were the only witnesses.

  “That didn’t sound good,” William said.

  “We need to go see if there’s anything we can do,” I said

  “Savannah, it might be a little hard for us to help anyone,” Edgar said.

  “Why?” I asked.

  “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we’re ghosts,“ William said. “We can’t do what we did when we were alive. Not having a body may make it a little difficult to pull someone out of a car wreck.”

  I hated to admit it, but he was right. We could close doors, control lights and move small objects. Moving an adult human from a car would be impossible. Still, I couldn’t just leave the person or people in the car. I had to try to do something. What if they end up dying alone? Maybe it’s because I was alone when I died. I don’t want someone else to go through what I did.

  “What if the person in the car dies alone? You guys have no idea how scary that is. If we can only be there for them in that way, it least we will have done something,” I said.

  “I am not convinced it such a good idea. Savannah, what happened to you is rare. If the person in the car does end up dying, they will more than likely have relatives already there when they cross over. Seeing strangers might scare them, Edgar said.

  “But we don’t know that,” I said.

  What if by some chance this person is alone and no deceased relatives or friends ever appear to them? It easy for them to think it’s not a good idea. They have no clue what it is like.

  “It’s great that you want to help, but Savannah, you have to be realistic. You know that we aren’t physically capable of saving a life. I know you have the best of intentions, and I really admire that in you. It’s just that you need to realize that we aren’t part of this world anymore. No matter what we try to do, things will still happen. Even if we try to intervene, we can’t do anything,” Camille said.

  “We can try all we want, Savannah, but the person in the car is going to either live or die regardless of what we try to do. Their life is predetermined. It will make absolutely no difference whether or not we try to save them. I know you hate hearing it, but it’s something you need to realize,” Whitney said.

  “Very well stated Camille and Whitney,” Edgar commented.

  Okay, so we’re not supposed to do anything at all? So we just continue on our way as if nothing happened? What the hell is this? So we can’t even try. I can’t believe this. I’m actually appalled at my group’s attitude.

  “So, do we just continue on our way and pretend we didn’t see or hear anything?” I asked, looking each of the spirits in front of me in the eye.

  “Yeah,” Edgar said.

  “If we can’t do anything, what is the point of staying?” William asked me.

  If that’s how they’re going to act, then fine. I’ll go find the car myself and see what I can do. I turned around and started walking in the direction the car had gone. I’m really surprised at how they are all acting.

  “Savannah, where are you going?” Edgar called out to me.

  “You know where I’m going,” I yelled back without ever turning around.

  As I walked away, something occurred to me. Would I be allowed back into the group? Oh, shit. I stopped and stood there, thinking about what I had done. Maybe walking away was not the best idea in the world. Great. Good job Savannah. You probably just screwed yourself big time. I can’t help it though. I just wanted to try to help. It’s normal, for most, to want to help someone else who is in trouble. I heard someone yelling behind me. I turned around.

  “Hey, what’s the hold up,” William yelled out to me, “Don’t we have some people to attempt to help”?

  I saw Edgar, Camille, William and Whitney walking toward me. I was surprised. I wonder where the sudden change of heart came from. Maybe they realized I was right. This must also mean that I am still part of the group. Well that is a relief. I walked over to join them.

  “I’m so happy you guys changed you’re mind. See, with all of us helping, I’m sure we can do something,” I said.

  “That’s not why we’re doing it. Number one, we don’t want you going around by yourself. Number two, you made us feel guilty,” Edgar said.

  “All that matters is that you guys are here,” I said. We were soon on our way.

  It didn’t take us long to find the car. It looked like the driver had somehow lost control. The car had made it twenty feet before it hit a tree. The front end of the car hugged the tree. One of the turn signals blinked brightly in the darkness. We walked around the car. It was in pretty bad shape, such bad shape that I couldn’t recognize the make or model. I was afraid to look inside to see if anyone was in the car and what shape they were in. We made William do it.

  “William, check to see if anyone is in the car and what condition they are in,” Edgar said.

  “Why me?” William asked.

  “Because I said so. Now go,” Edgar commanded, pointing in the direction of the car, or rather what is left of it?

  William walked up to the driver’s side. He stood there unmoving for a few minutes. He then bent down and peered into the vehicle. “There is a man and woman who look to be in their late twenties, early thirties. They look like they’d been partying. The man has a suit on and the woman is wearing some sort of party dress. I smell a lot of alcohol,” he said.

  Great. It sounds like alcohol was the cause of this crash. What were these two thinking?

  “How badly are they hurt?” Edgar asked. “Do you see a lot of blood?”

  “There is a lot of blood. The woman is bleeding from the side of her head. The man has a gash on his leg. They are not in good shape. Good thing vampires aren’t real, or these two would be screwed,” William said.

  “Are they alive?” Camille asked.

  “I think so. I think I hear a faint heartbeat. It looks like they’re barely hanging on,” William said.

  “Thank you, William. You may come back now,” Edgar said.

  “What do we do now?” Whitney asked.

  “I don’t know,” Edgar, said, “I feel like we should leave them. If they’re barley hanging on as it is, they probably won’t make it through the night”

  “So that’s it. You think we should just leave them to die alone?” I said.

  “What else do you want me to d
o? If anyone else has a better idea, say so?” Edgar said.

  We all just looked at each other. None of us had any ideas. Maybe this was a bad idea after all. After just sitting on the ground, staring at one another, I finally had an idea.

  “How about we try move the car. The road is only twenty feet away. I’m sure if we all do it together, we could move it back to the main road where another driver will see it and call for help,” I said.

  “Say we are able to move the car back to the road. Wouldn’t it look a little suspicious? People would expect the car to be wrapped around the tree, not sitting in the middle of the road. There is no way that anyone would think that the driver had driven the car or that he pushed it himself. I’m sorry, but there is no way this could be done without it looking suspicious. I say we leave it,” William said.

  Again, William was right. Seeing a car that has obviously been in an accident sitting right in the middle of the road, several feet from the tree it hit would be suspicious. It would prompt investigations. I came up with another idea.

  “No one would be suspicious of anything if we make it look like the car hit a deer” I said.

  “And where are we supposed to find a deer?” William asked.

  “Look around you, we’re in a small forest, there has to be deer in here somewhere,” I said.

  “Hitting a deer would cause damage, but not as much the car has,” Edgar said.

  “We could make it look like a tree had fallen on the car. Many of the trees are old, so it wouldn’t look strange if one fell” Edgar said.

  That sounded plausible enough. We got to work right away. Edgar was still reluctant about helping. The sun would be up in a few hours. We started with the car. Since it wasn’t a big car to begin with, it should be easy to move. Edgar and William got behind the tree and pushed the car off the tree while Camille, Whitney and I pulled it toward us. As we started to move the car we heard a scream coming from inside it. We moved away quickly. It was the woman screaming out in pain. We must have jostled the car a little too much.