The Phantom Crystal

Final Day of Break

The stairs creak as I slowly work my way down to the kitchen, rolling my shoulders as I walk. The house is mostly silent, with the occasional shift as the house settles with the blowing winds blustering around outside. Stifling a yawn, I squint against the bright yellow lights as I enter the kitchen as my sock-covered feet slide across the linoleum.

Mom, wearing a heather grey hooded sweatshirt and buffalo plaid sleeping pants, is sitting at the tall kitchen table with a tablet glowing in front of her. She lifts her head as I approach the fridge and a wide smile crosses her face.

"Well, well, well, look who's decided to join the world of the living," Mom teases as she glances at her smartwatch, her greying light brown hair swaying in her ponytail as she looks back at me. "It's only, hmm, 2:30 in the afternoon. Don't think your professors will be as happy to see you at this time as me and your father are." Mom smirks back at me as I stare at her, my sleep idle brain trying to catch up with all the words she just spewed at me. I squint at her before running a hand through my hair.

A snort escapes me. “I don’t plan on being out until 5 in the morning on-school nights,” I respond, voice gruff from sleep as I grab an energy drink from the top shelf. “I like sleep way too much to do that to myself.”

A more sympathetic look crosses Mom's face and she studies me over her glasses.

"I know, sweetheart, I was only teasing," Mom says softly. "How's your shoulder doing?"

I swallow a large mouthful of the red liquid energy before rolling my left shoulder. There is a slight twinge and a dull ache starting to form but definitely not as bad as it was when we got home.

Last night, Mom and Dad received a phone call from a bar in downtown St. Paul about a possible poltergeist causing mayhem for the owner whenever she closes up for the night. It was starting to bleed into her open hours and was frightening her guests as well as her small staff, to the point where many of her staff were threatening to quit if nothing was done.

Fast-forward to the bar owner contacting Mom and Dad, having read their blogs and books about their other paranormal investigations and I thought, for some reason, that I could help my parents with figuring out what the poltergeist wanted. We had gotten there around 10 o'clock and had to wait for the bar to close at midnight. The owner was willing to close two hours early for us and it allowed us enough time to interview any regulars who were still there, unwilling to let some unseen force stop them from having a good time.

I spent most of my time interviewing the staff, all of whom were super friendly but understandably frightened to be there when the lights were turned off. Honestly, it was a great time those first two hours, but then a few minutes before close, objects started getting thrown around and two stools were even tipped over in front of me. The entire building went from being decently warm and pleasant to feeling cool and unwelcoming.

Unfortunately, that was the most activity we would get for most of the night and of course, we missed most of it on our equipment because we hadn't set it up yet thanks to all the patrons still being there and being in the locations we needed to set up the cameras and the thermals.

Then, after about three hours of silence and inactivity, my folks decided that it would be a good idea for us to split up. The bar had two levels and a basement. I was to stay on the main floor while Mom went downstairs and Dad went upstairs.

And that's when all chaos broke loose.

Bottles of alcohol started flying off the counters, the chairs that were stacked onto the tables were thrown off and dragged across the floor, and I was shoved, almost violently, into one of the round tables near the bar's counter where my shoulder struck the corner of the bar. Which hurt. A LOT. Thankfully, however, all of that was enough evidence that Mom and Dad needed to be able to refer the bar's owner to a local medium to try and cleanse the bar of its unwanted guest.

And, while frightening at the time and a little overwhelming, it was kind of exhilarating to have experienced such activity. Most of the time when I go on these investigations with Mom and Dad, all of the activity happens when we're in another part of the building. This was my first time experiencing something firsthand. Sure, it left quite a bruise and it's hard to lift my arm, but it was worth it in my opinion. Mom and Dad were actually far more upset about it than I was.

Taking another sip of my drink, I shrug with my right shoulder.

"I mean, it aches a little but nothing that I can't handle. And luckily my bag is a messenger bag, so I shouldn't have any issues while carrying my textbooks."

Mom purses her lips, pushing her silver-framed glasses back up her nose. "If you're sure. Make sure to pack some ibuprofen into your bag to take up to school with you tomorrow."

My drink pauses halfway and I glance over at Mom.

"I thought you were taking me to BSU tomorrow?"

Mom stands and walks over to me. She smiles as she tries to flatten my unruly short dark brown hair. Hazel eyes flicker around my face before Mom leans forward and kisses my forehead.

"I'm sorry, Jack, sweetie, I thought we told you last night, but your father and I got a call from Ian saying that he found that broken part for our Ghost Portal downstairs but it's a whole day's drive to the southern border of Minnesota and the person who's selling it can't stay longer than tomorrow night."

"So you and Dad are heading out tonight then?" I ask a little disappointed that my last night home won't be with my folks, but Mom and Dad have been searching for this part for months, I wouldn't want them to miss this opportunity when I'll be able to see them for spring break anyways.

Mom pets my hair again. "Rae has already agreed to take you, making a small detour up north before heading to Wisconsin."

I nod. "Okay, as long as she's okay with it."

"Oh, she is and she'll be having Casper riding with her, so if she gets tired they can switch,” Mom states, moving back over to the table, picking up her tablet. “But your father and I didn’t want to leave until we could say ‘bye’ to you.”

Nodding, my eyes track Mom as she walks over to the basement door. She opens it.

“Ken! Jack’s awake!” Mom calls down, leaving the door open before walking into the living room. “Oh, Jackie, make sure you have something more than just that pure adrenaline that you’re drinking.”

I snort as I glance over to the cabinet. “Yeah, yeah, I will. I’m just not hungry right now.”

Mom leans out of the living room, an unimpressed stare on her face and I merely smile at her. She rolls her eyes and disappears back into the living room.

“Your sister and Casper are downstairs watching tv if you want to join them,” Mom calls out.

Humming in response, I head for the basement and pause as Dad appears at the base. He looks up, his greying brown hair sticking to his forehead and his light grey shirt has a large wet spot on his chest. Dad grins up at me, his grey-blue eyes lighting up.

“Jackie! Have a good sleep? Thought you weren’t gonna get up until supper.”

My lips quirk at Dad’s teasing. “Yeah, yeah, I would have forced myself to get up, don’t want to ruin my sleep schedule.”

“No, you wouldn’t have!” Rae’s voice calls out from somewhere in the basement. “You love your beauty sleep too much!”

“I don’t need beauty sleep!” I shout back. “This is all-natural!”

Dad rolls his eyes as he reaches the top of the stairs, pushing his bangs from his eyes. “You sure about that?”

Dad laughs as I pout.

“I’m freaking beautiful,” I grumble, descending into the basement. I stick my tongue out at the floor above me as Dad cackles.

My steps bounce on the light blue carpet lining the basement floor.

The basement is one of my most favorite and less favorite places to be. On one hand, left side of the basement is completely furnished with a 70” tv mounted on the wall, two cushioned navy blue love seats, a matching navy blue couch, and a small black mini-fridge in the left corner.

The right side of the basement, however, is rather unsettling. That side of the basement is Mom and Dad’s lab area for their paranormal equipment. The floor, unlike the left side of the basement, is just straight cement, just like the walls along that side of the basement. There are computer monitors mounted on the walls and metal tables line the walls with many of Mom’s experimental paranormal devices that she creates. Overall, that section of the basement just has a very eerie feel to it.

And then there is the Portal.

The Portal is a large eight-foot metal arch that sits in the space where the carpet ends and the cement starts. There is a glass panel to the right of the Portal which is the control panel. As far as I know, the control panel is the only thing that works on the Portal but Mom had tried to turn the Portal itself on back in August but it fried something inside of it. According to Mom, the Portal should be able to cause a way to drop the veil that separates the spirit world and the living world which will allow a living being to travel between the two worlds and she said that they were almost successful but the Portal started pulling in more power than a lot of the Portal could handle, which is why it fried. I’m still not entirely sure what fried or what Mom and Dad are looking for to replace the part, but it’s obviously important, so I’m just happy that they were able to find a new part for it. It would be pretty cool to be able to see where ghosts go when they aren’t haunting a location.

Tearing my eyes away from the Portal, I walk up behind the couch where Rae’s and Casper’s heads are peeking out over the top. On the screen is some random game show, one that I’m sure Rae and Casper are watching mainly because there is nothing else on.

“‘Sup, kids,” I say, leaning over the back of the couch to rest my arm on my sister’s head. Rae reaches up, smacking at my forearm until I drop it. She glares at me as I walk around the couch and plop onto one of the love seats.

“I’m older than you by three years,” Rae states, readjusting in her seat. “So, if anyone here is a ‘kid’, it’s you.”

I roll my eyes as I sip my drink. “Only you would think that being called a ‘kid’ is an insult. If it means that I get to keep this youthful appearance for a long time, then I’ll take it.”

Rae rolls her grey-blue eyes, turning her attention back to the tv as a laugh track plays. I eye the figures on the screen, all three of the candidates wearing large smiles.

“Heard you guys had quite the night last night,” Casper states, turning his dark brown eyes toward me. “Was it actually a poltergeist that you were dealing with?”

I nod, swirling the contents of my can as my gaze flickers toward Mom and Dad’s lab.

“Yeah, it wasn’t the most malevolent poltergeist but they were causing quite a bit of trouble,” I say, sinking down in my seat. “And since the poltergeist wasn’t overly strong yet, a single medium could help that bar owner out.” My shoulder throbs dully but I ignore it as another round of laugh track sounds from the tv.

Casper hums, slowly nodding as his eyes flicker to Rae.

“I’m glad no one got hurt,” Casper says earnestly, his arm landing across my sister’s shoulders. Rae’s face pulls into a scowl and her lips part as if to say something when the stairs creak.

“Rae? Jack? Casper?” Mom calls out, stepping down from the last step, no longer in her loungewear but a brick red t-shirt and dark blue jeans. “Your father and I are planning on heading out.”

“Okay,” I say, pushing myself up as Mom and Dad approaches, no longer in his grey shirt but a light blue long sleeve t-shirt and black cargo pants. “Drive safe, ‘kay?”

Mom hugs me tightly before passing me over to Dad, who chuckles and hugs me just as tightly.

“I think that’s our line for the three of you.” Dad drops his voice to whisper in my ear. “And please text your mother tomorrow when you get to your dorm, she’s gonna worry all day about you and your sister.”

Smiling, I quietly agree and Dad pats my back, mindful of my shoulder. Honestly, it’s more of a bone bruise than anything. I step aside as Rae appears to hug Dad. I turn to find Mom pulling Casper to his feet and hugging him just as tightly, her head barely reaching his shoulder.

“You get a hug as well, young man,” Mom states as Casper laughs as Mom steps back and ushers him toward Dad. “The three of you drive safely tomorrow. It’s supposed to snow later tomorrow night, so please leave before then so you’re not driving in that crap.”

“We’ll be careful,” Rae says, pulling the sleeve of her dark purple sweatshirt sleeves over her hands. “You know that I hate snow, so I’m planning on us leaving pretty early.” My sister turns to look at me, eyes narrowed. “And I do mean EARLY. So, no sleeping until 2, Jackie.”

I roll my eyes. “Not like I meant to, but okay. I promise to be ready by whatever time you want to leave.”

“Good, good,” Mom says, picking some lint off of Dad’s shirt. “Text me when you leave and text me when both of you reach your dorms.” Mom smiles at Casper over her shoulder. “Keep these two in check, will you, Casper? Sometimes it’s hard to believe that they’re college students with how much they bicker.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Mom nods sternly, her eyes narrowing for a second to glance between me and Rae before softening with a small smile.

“All right, love the three of you, your father and I are off. Ian should have already left to meet us at the hotel.”

I wave as both Mom and Dad ascend the stairs. A few seconds later, the front door slams shut and calm settles over the house once more. Shrugging, I resume my seat, pulling my knees to my chest, and tuck my toes under my long black sweatpants leg.

Time to enjoy my last day of break.