The Review

7 — The Review

It is nearly seven o’clock when the students arrive at William’s house. They gather downstairs in the situation room his father has set up for them. William is finishing a list of everything they know about their current case on the whiteboard. He divides it into three columns—Investigation, Research and Other. Under Investigation, he lists video, EVP and photos, then draws a line and adds Personal Experiences.

“What does EVP stand for again?” Samantha asks.

“Electronic Voice Phenomena,” William replies.

“Right. I keep forgetting that for some reason. That’s when you capture sounds on a recorder or video that nobody hears at the time, isn’t it?”

“That’s correct.”

Matthew shakes his head. “How can you forget? Every paranormal show mentions it at least once an episode, as if it’s something brand-new.”

“Isn’t that the truth,” Sarah agrees. “It gets annoying after a while.”

“Don’t forget,” William points out, “somebody out there might be watching for the first time.”

He hands everyone a pen and a sheet of paper and asks them to write down everything they remember from the investigation. As they begin, Sarah leans towards Alexis.

“What if we’re not sure?” she whispers.

William overhears her. “If you’re not positive about something, leave it out. We can’t risk tainting the investigation with false information.”

“When in doubt, throw it out,” Jacob says.

“Exactly.”

Everyone gets to work except Jessica. William notices her sitting with a frustrated expression. He returns to his notes, but when he looks up again a few moments later, she still hasn’t written anything.

“Is everything all right, Jessica?”

“I’m having trouble concentrating. Every time I try to remember the investigation, images from my dream pop into my head.”

“That’s just weird,” Matthew says. “Are you sure you’re really trying?”

William shoots him an annoyed look.

Matthew catches it and quickly softens his tone. “Sorry, Jessica. I just don’t understand how something from a couple of days ago can be so hard to remember. Have you looked at the notes you made?”

Jessica manages a smile. “Thanks, Matt. I never even thought of that.”

She takes out her smartphone and opens her notes. William gives Matthew a small smile and an approving nod, which Matthew acknowledges before returning to his writing. Matthew might not fear the unknown, but he has no desire to get on William’s bad side. Working construction with his father on weekends and during summer breaks has made William large and muscular for his age.

About fifteen minutes later, William sets down his pen. “Okay, everyone. Let’s see what we’ve got. Did anybody capture anything at the old mill itself?”

A chorus of noes answers him.

“Neither did I. What about the old house? Matt, let’s start with you.”

“Not much. I heard footsteps in the hallway, heading upstairs, but when we went up, we couldn’t find anyone or anything. We also caught some whispering on tape.”

“I’ve got the same things,” Jacob says. “I wish I’d found some real evidence.”

“That is good evidence, Jacob. You heard something, captured it on tape and have a witness who heard it too.”

William writes the details on the whiteboard. “Who’s next?”

“I saw that freaky ghost in the sitting room,” Samantha says. “I also saw a man sitting at a table in the corner, arguing by himself. But he didn’t show up in any of my photos.”

Jessica turns towards her. “What man at a table? Why didn’t you tell us before?”

“I don’t know. I guess because he wasn’t in the pictures, I thought I’d imagined him. I didn’t want to look stupid.”

“Very few people manage to photograph an apparition,” William reminds her.

“I never thought of that.”

“Did anybody else see the man?”

The others shake their heads.

“When Alexis, Jessica and I were going upstairs, we heard a door slam,” Sarah says. “But all the doors along the hallway were partly open when we got there.”

“Did you check the rooms and closets?” Matthew asks.

“No. I guess we were so frightened that we forgot there were other doors upstairs.”

“Anything else?” William asks.

“We heard footsteps going upstairs too,” Alexis adds.

Jessica checks her notes. “That covers everything on my list.”

“Then let’s see what we have—” William begins.

“Samantha!” Jessica interrupts. “The man you saw at the table could have been Mr. Johnson. Remember how I told you Sherry-Anne saw her father arguing with someone who wasn’t there? Maybe that’s who you saw.”

William pauses. “I usually get annoyed when somebody interrupts me, but that actually makes a lot of sense.”

“Sorry, William. It just came to me, and I blurted it out.”

“No problem, Jess. Now, shall we continue?”

They study the whiteboard together. Several of their personal experiences seem to agree, but they have very little tangible evidence to support them.

“If we showed this to anyone,” Jessica says, “they’d probably say we imagined it all. Even the picture—they’d call it a trick of the light.”

“She’s right,” Matthew admits. “I don’t even know whether Miss Waters will believe us.”

“I’d love to hear Brenda’s opinion about what we saw,” Jessica says. “Could we move our meeting with her up to tomorrow?”

“It’s only a couple more days,” Matthew replies. “I’m sure we can wait.”

“Matt’s right,” William says. “That gives us time to look into what other people have found in haunted houses, and whether their experiences turned out to be paranormal or something they’d misinterpreted.”

“Sounds like a great idea,” Alexis says. “Let’s get started.”

They split into groups and search the internet for information that might explain their experiences. Much of what they find is unreliable: obvious fakes, misleading claims and pages that have nothing to do with the paranormal. Eventually Alexis finds a site with information that seems more useful. She shares it with the others, and everyone agrees it is the most relevant one they have found. Its categories lead to more detailed pages, and visitors can even submit their own photographs and stories.

Each group explores a different section. Matthew and Alexis examine submissions under Ghost Photos. Sarah, Samantha and Jacob look through the Orbs section. William and Jessica read accounts of hauntings and descriptions of photographic anomalies, searching for a possible explanation for their picture of the traveller.

The site is informative, but it offers few answers. Many of the orb photographs look like dust, while the supposed ghost photographs resemble reflections or streaks of light. In the end, the group decides their best option is to wait until they can speak to Miss Waters.

Then William remembers the audio recordings he cleaned up the previous night. He opens the folder containing the new sound files and asks everyone to listen.

The first recording contains footsteps on the stairs. As William presses Play, they hear not only the steps but the stairs creaking beneath them, as though somebody is climbing towards the second floor. Jessica’s voice can be heard telling the girls to stop just before the footsteps begin. That makes it unlikely that the sounds come from anyone in her group.

William plays another clip, this one from Matthew and Jacob’s experience. Again, footsteps and creaking floorboards are clearly audible. Then Matthew’s recorded voice cuts in: “Come on, Jacob. We need to catch whoever’s playing tricks on us.”

William reminds everyone that Matthew and Jacob find nothing on the second floor when they go to investigate.

“I’ve saved the best for last,” he announces.

“What is it?” Sarah asks.

“Just listen. This one’s from the sitting room.”

He clicks Play. A voice comes through clearly: “Gold’s mine, don’t take it.”

William loops the recording. At first, some of the others are uncertain about the words, but after listening several times, everyone agrees on what they hear.

William looks at Jessica. “That’s a strange coincidence. Maybe there really is something to that dream you had.”

William and Jessica both have a great deal of homework, so the group decides to finish earlier than usual. After everyone leaves, William shuts down the equipment in the recreation room and connects his MP3 player to the stereo. He starts his homework with “Weeping Widow” by Mindstorm playing in his ears.

On the walk home, Matthew asks Jessica whether she has had any more strange dreams or felt as though somebody is watching her.

“Actually, no.” Jessica seems puzzled by his interest. “It’s strange. That one day I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was being watched, but today there’s nothing. And I don’t even remember what I dreamed about last night.”

Matthew smiles. “Maybe that’s a good thing. I don’t think I’d want to see somebody else’s memories as if they were my own.”

“I guess you’re right,” Jessica says, smiling back. “I have enough crazy memories of my own without trying to remember a memory that isn’t even mine.”

The following day at school is ordinary for the group. There are no fantastic stories, wild dreams or new discoveries—just classes, schoolwork and the usual trip home. Miss Waters’s class, however, is an exception.

Brenda is about to begin the morning lesson when a student calls out, “I thought you were going to liven up the class today!”

“You’re right. I almost forgot.” She puts down her marker and looks around the classroom. Some of the desks are pushed together, so she asks everyone to move them apart and make enough room to stretch without touching anyone else.

“Okay,” Brenda says. “Close your eyes and raise your left arm. In your mind’s eye, picture a movie or projector screen.”

“In my mind’s what?” a student asks.

“Sorry. With your eyes closed, imagine a movie or projector screen in the centre of your forehead. Once you can see it, lower your arm into a comfortable position.”

Brenda watches as most of the girls and a few of the boys lower their arms almost immediately. Within another twenty seconds, everyone’s arm is down.

“Now picture the colour red on that screen. It could be a flash of light, a ball, a car—anything red. Don’t just see an object; see its colour. Hold that red in your mind for at least a second.”

She studies their expressions, giving those who are struggling a little more time before continuing.

“Now picture the colour orange. You can imagine any object you like, but make sure you can actually see the orange on the screen in your mind.”

The class seems to be catching on, so Brenda continues at intervals of a couple of minutes. She enjoys making learning fun, but she also wants to leave enough time for the day’s lesson.

“See the colour yellow.” She pauses. “Now picture green.” After another pause, she continues. “Next, see blue. And finally, picture violet.”

She gives the students another couple of minutes to work through all the colours.

“Now that you’ve pictured every colour of the rainbow, imagine a light in the centre of your screen. Walk towards it and watch it grow larger until you’re standing directly in front of it. Look down. Beneath the light is a glowing pathway leading into a forest.

“Follow the pathway one step at a time. Look down and see your feet as you walk. When you look up, the path splits around a large tree and joins again on the other side. Take either path around the tree. Watch a squirrel or a rabbit run across in front of you.

“Eventually, the path leads into a field. Stay on it as you walk through the wildflowers. Feel the breeze on your face and smell the flowers. At the far side of the field, the path ends at the foot of a hill. Where it seems to disappear beneath the rocks, look up. You’ll see a door.

“Study the door carefully so you’ll remember it later. Now reach into your pocket and take out a key. Only you can use this key to unlock the door. It leads to your own paradise.

“Open the door and step inside. Look around. If you see something you don’t like, change it. This is your personal paradise, and you can make it whatever you want. I’m going to be quiet now and let you spend some time in your special place.”

For the next ten minutes, Brenda watches the different expressions on her students’ faces. Then, knowing they still have work to do, she gently guides them back.

“Okay, class, it’s time to leave your special place. You can return whenever you want by repeating this visualization on your own. Step outside and watch the door close behind you. It locks automatically, so nobody else can enter.

“Walk back up the path, across the field and into the forest. Pass the large tree and follow the path until you return to where you started, beneath the light. As you approach, the light turns violet. Watch it change to blue, then green, yellow, orange and finally red. When the light turns red, open your eyes.”

The students begin opening their eyes. Some stretch; others yawn. They all seem to feel suddenly full of energy.

Brenda hands out sheets of paper and asks each student to describe the door to their special place in detail, along with a brief description of what lies beyond it.

“What was that?” one student asks as the class begins writing.

“It’s a form of hypnosis that lets your mind and body recharge,” Brenda explains. “You can do it on your own whenever you feel drained. It also gives you a place where you can enjoy a fantasy world. Just remember that if you do it while lying down, you may fall asleep. After all, it’s a relaxation exercise.”

She gives the class ten minutes to finish their descriptions, then collects the papers and returns to the front of the room. Picking up her marker, she begins writing on the board.

“Now, back to business. We’ll continue where we left off yesterday.”