Purgatech: Jess' Horror

Chapter Ten

Jess spent the night restlessly tossing and turning in bed. Every time the house shifted in the fall breeze, her heart started to race. Every time the wind whipped up outside her window, the branches on the old oak outside dragged across the glass like the fingernails of the undead.

She knew she was being silly; that she was just letting her imagination get away with her. But in the middle of the night when the rest of the recruits were sleeping, it was hard not to let her thoughts go there.

But she kept what happened last night to herself. She didn’t want to freak Erica out. She didn’t want Rob hearing about it and belittling her. But most of all she still wasn’t even sure it had really happened.

Maybe it was just like the wind in the oaks outside. Maybe she’d heard the wind whistling through the trees and her mind interpreted it as a voice.

“That’s gotta be it,” she said, pulling the covers up to her chin. “It was just my imagination.”

When the sun finally started to peek over the horizon in a pale pink glow, Jess was finally able to breathe again. She smiled softly to herself. As much as Dylan had gone on about the Ridgely’s choosing this place for the paranormal hot-spots, she had a feeling Purgatech were a little more calculating.

Housing their offices in a creepy old mansion made it easy to believe in things that went bump in the night. She was sure that if she had been recruited to test their gadgets in some sterile office downtown, it wouldn’t have the same effect.

For a brief moment, Kyle’s hurtful words came rushing back to her.

“It’s sick. Preying on vulnerable people, making them believe they can contact their dead loved ones.”

Jess didn’t expect to find Gram here, she knew that much. But if Purgatech could prove that it was possible to contact those that had passed on, maybe Jess would get that one thing she longed for most - a chance to say goodbye.

Before she could get too nostalgic, there was a knock on her door.

“Jess? You awake yet?”

“Yeah, come in,” she called out.

Erica opened the door and peeked her head in. “You alone?”

Jess propped herself up on her pillow. “Of course I am. Who else would be in here?”

Why would Erica ask her that? Had she experienced the same thing Jess had?

“I just thought maybe Dylan had snuck in here for a secret rendezvous!”

Jess gasped. “Erica! How can you say something like that?”

Erica giggled. She closed the door behind her and bounded over to the bed, sinking down beside Jess.

“I saw the way he was looking at you yesterday. Total goo-goo eyes.”

“He was not!” Jess said, shoving her friend. “Even if he was, I’m dating your brother, remember?”

“Yeah, I know. But…Dylan’s hot. And my brother’s a doofus.”

“That doesn’t mean I don’t want to work things out with him.”

“I know.” Erica patted Jess on the arm. “But maybe being here, now, is just what you need. As much as I love him, if you two aren’t happy together, you shouldn’t force it. And from what I’ve seen these past few weeks, you guys are kinda on different pages. But you and Dylan…”

“Me and Dylan are just friends. I work for him now. Nothing more.”

“Mmm-hmm,” Erica said. “Just promise me you’ll think about what’s best for you. Not for Kyle. Not for Dylan. Alright?”

Jess smiled at her friend but her request was easier said than done. But she had a nagging feeling that by the end of this month, her life would be very different when she walked out of this place.

Out in the hall, Jess heard the crackling of an intercom system.

“Good morning, everyone!”

“Who’s that? Lisa?” Erica said.

“Sounds like it.” Jess tilted her head and waited.

“We’d like for everyone to meet us in the main foyer in about an hour for today’s assignments. See you then!”

Erica bounded out of bed. “Good! Those apps last night did nothing for me. I’m hoping they’re going to give us something new to test. I wanna see something good!”

Erica made it to the door and had yanked it open. She turned and look back over her shoulder.

“You coming?”

Jess nodded. “Just gotta get ready.”

Erica smirked. “Oh right. Gotta look your best for Dylan.”

Erica smacked her lips together a few times before going out into the hall and closing the door behind her, leaving Jess alone with her thoughts again. Jess wasn’t sure what made her more uncomfortable- the fact that she was alone again or that she had a lot of decisions to make.

—

After taking a long hot shower and gathering her Purgatech gear, Jess made her way down to the main floor. Erica stood chatting to Grace, while Rob stood off to one side looking surly. When he saw Jess, he didn’t move. He just looked up at her and watched her come down the stairs.

Jess tried to muster a smile, hoping the day wouldn’t start off on the wrong foot, which seemed to always be the case with Rob involved. But he simply stared at her, stone-faced.

“Morning,” she said, awkwardly pausing next to him. “How’d you sleep?”

He grunted and shrugged without even humoring her with a response.

“Uh, okay. You’re not much of a morning person, huh?”

His expression remained unchanged. He leaned in slowly, his eyes bugging out, then he grabbed Jess’ arm and then he whispered, “They gonna get you.”

Jess’s stomach lurched. “What? What did you say to me?”

“Jess?” Erica called over to her. “What’s going on?”

Jess yanked her arm but Rob held tight. He started breathing heavy, his chest heaving in and out.

“They gonna get you,” he repeated.

Erica had come over to the foot of the staircase and tried to push him away but he held tight to Jess’ arm.

“Hey, buddy! Let her go before I kick your ass!”

But his grip was iron-tight and Jess couldn’t get away from him.

Erica grabbed Jess and pulled her away from them. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

Jess watched Rob. He blinked a few times and then played it all off like nothing had happened.

“I…I’m okay. He just…I don’t know what his problem is. I only said good morning.”

“Well, he’s obviously crazy! Did you see the look in his eyes?”

Jess nodded. But it wasn’t what he looked like that freaked her out. It was what he said.

“Are you sure you’re okay? You’re shaking!” Erica said, putting one arm around her.

Before Jess could answer, the front door to the estate opened. Dylan and Lisa came bounding in with two men dressed in hospital scrubs. They didn’t say anything but immediately went over to where Rob was standing.

“Is everything okay in here?” Dylan asked coming toward Jess and Erica.

“Uh, no. It’s not okay! That lunatic over there attacked Jess!”

“Erica, he didn’t exactly attack me.”

“Jess! He grabbed you! Look at her arm, Dylan!”

Erica pulled Jess toward him. A distinct imprint of Rob’s fingers encircled her wrist. Dylan put his arm on her shoulder.

“Are you okay? Does it hurt?”

“Yes, I’m fine and no, it doesn’t hurt. He just…freaked me out for a second. I’m okay now.”

“And we’ll be even better when you get that nutcase out of here!” Erica said.

“We’re taking care of him,” Dylan said, motioning to the men who had taken Rob by either arm and now escorted him toward the front door.

“Wait, just…I’m fine, alright? Don’t go making a big deal out of nothing.”

“That’s right,” Rob said, glaring at Jess over his shoulder. “It’s like you said. I’m just not a morning person.”

Jess tried to let it go but the look in Rob’s eyes gave her a chill on the back of her neck. She swore she could still feel his hand clamped around her wrist. She rubbed her skin, trying to get rid of the sensation.

“They gonna get you,” she whispered to herself. “They gonna get you.”

“Jess. You alright?” Erica said, grabbing her hand gingerly. “Maybe you should get that looked at.”

Jess’ face burned hot with the realization that everyone was staring at her.

“No, I’m fine. Really.”

“It’s no problem,” Dylan said. “We have medical staff on site if you want to—”

“I don’t. I’m fine. What I want is to get back to investigating. That’s why we’re here, isn’t it?”

Grace, who had been cowering against the far wall, moved to join them. “Maybe we should just forget about all of this.”

Dylan turned to her and put his hand on her shoulder. “Everything’s fine now, Grace. Just a little misunderstanding. We’ll be fine now. Jess is right. Why don’t we just push forward and move to the the next round of tests. Lisa?”

Dylan’s assistant had laid out a bunch of devices on the small table that had been set up in the foyer.

“Great idea. If everyone would like to come over here, we have something new to share with all of you.”

Rob made a beeline for the table, with Grace following reluctantly behind him. Erica gave Jess a long look, but Jess nodded, then headed over to join the others.

“What we have here is our newest piece of technology,” Dylan said, “and you’re the lucky ones who get to test it first.”

He picked up one of the devices and held it up for everyone to see. It was about the size of a small handheld radio. There was a small display screen on the front of the device with a number of buttons scattered across the top.

“This is what we call Purgawear. It’s a wearable device that does multiple things. First, it amplifies the sonar range used to locate spirits, making it easier to pinpoint where they may be. It also allows you, the user, to communicate with those spirits.”

Rob picked up one of the devices and turned it over in his hand. “Why do we need this to talk to these ghost? Can’t we just say what we wanna say out loud?”

Jess and Erica exchanged glances. He seemed normal now, or as normal as he ever had.

“Good question,” Dylan said. “How many of you were disappointed that you didn’t pick up any readings with the Purgatech app last night?”

Everyone raised their hands.

“Right, but there’s a key thing to remember. Just because you don’t see or hear anything, that doesn’t mean there are no entities around you. Spirits exist on a completely different plain that we do. They see and hear and communicate differently than we do. And most of the time, we cannot hear them, because they are communicating on a different electromagnetic frequency than we are. This technology tunes into those higher frequencies, ones that we cannot normally hear with the human ear, and acts as sort of a bridge between our world and the word those spirits exist in. Make sense?”

Grace cleared her throat and then warily raised her hand. “I’m afraid I don’t really understand any of this, Mr. Nixon.”

“Dylan, please, Grace. Call me Dylan. And that’s nothing to be ashamed of.” Dylan turned to the rest of the group. “Is anyone else having difficulty understanding what this thing does?”

Jess smirked and nodded along with the rest of them.

“Think of it as a digital translator. It scans the room, detects any paranormal chatter, kind of like an old CB radio, then converts that chatter into words that we can understand.”

“Like a translator for spirits,” Erica said, laughing.

“Right!” Lisa said.

“I’m afraid this is way too complicated for me,” Grace said. “Frequencies, Electro-whatever. Maybe this was a bad idea, me coming here.”

“Please, Grace. Don’t feel that way. I understand your confusion. We’ve been working on this technology for years, so it’s like second nature to us. But it’s all new to you. Which is why we have one device for each of you. The best way to understand how they work is to use them! So if everyone would grab one of the Purgawear devices from Lisa here, you have the after noon to explore the Estate and test our latest piece of gear!”

Lisa handed Jess one of the devices. Jess took it, turning it over and back again. It looked pretty sleek, but she didn’t really get how this little thing was supposed to help them contact spirits.

“This should be…interesting. So, where to first?” Jess said.

Erica turned and bolted up the main staircase before Jess could catch up with her. “Come on. The attic. Duh!”

“Why would you wanna go up there?” Jess called after her. “Erica! Wait up!”

By the time Jess raced up to the top floor, she had to stop to catch her breath.

“Erica?” She called out. There was no response. “This isn’t funny!”

“RAH!” Erica jumped out at her from behind an old bookcase. Jess jumped a foot in the air.

“Really, Erica?! You're not taking this seriously!"

“Of course I am!” Erica said, fiddling with the gadget. “Why do you think I came up here? While you were passed out last night, I was up doing a little research in the library. Turns out this attic is like Ground Zero for paranormal activity.”

“What kind of activity?”

“Well, the story I read said this is the room where Sarah’s body was found.”

“Are you serious?”

“Dead serious. No pun intended.”

Jess shook her head. “Not funny.”

“I know! I’m sorry. But what I said is true. Apparently, this is where she was found, strangled, with a length of rope around her neck.”

“Oh wow. That’s awful.”

“It is. So sad. But multiple reports came out over the years, from house staff, previous owners, all saying the same thing. In this main stairwell, there have been sightings, and reports of whispering. And back when they used to do tours here, people said they’d seen the ghost of a blonde woman on the stairs.”

Jess’ pulse quickened at the thought. Whisperings. Is that what she’d heard the other night? Was it Sarah trying to communicate with her?

“So, what do you say we fire up these babies and see what happens?”

Erica flicked on her device and held it out in front of her. “Is anyone here? I’m Erica. If there are any spirits here, please make yourselves known.”

They girls waited in silence but nothing happened.

“How is this thing supposed to work again?” Erica said.

“I guess it scans the room and picks up electromagnetic frequencies. I guess it translates them into words so we can understand them.”

Erica shook her head and moved further into the room.

“I don’t know,” she said. “Nothing’s happening for me.”

“Give it time,” Jess said. “Remember what Dylan said? Just because we don't get a reaction doesn’t men there’s nothing here.”

Erica sighed. “Yeah, but I thought we’d have seen something by now, that’s all.”

"Look, you knew what you were signing up for when you decided to come with me. This is an experiment. Nothing’s guaranteed.”

"I know but…I thought it was going to be a lot more fun than this. All we’ve done so far is traipse around in the dark and wait around for a whole lotta nothing to happen.”

“Patience, Erica. Patience.”

Jess moved across the room. An old bed was pushed up to one side. She sunk down onto it and took a few deep breaths, glad her best friend was here with her. But Erica kept spinning around the room, asking inane questions and getting mad when the Purgawear device did nothing. It was kind of ruining Jess’ vibe.

“Maybe if we just sit here…quietly…we’ll get a better reading. Like…maybe you’re disrupting the electromagnetic field by moving around or something.”

“Does that happen?” Erica said, coming to sit beside Jess on the bed.

“I don’t know. But…it’s possible I guess.”

Erica sighed but she finally zipped her lips and the two sat in silence for a while. It was strange how the other group were just a few floors down but Jess couldn’t hear any evidence that there was anyone else in the house. It was like they were in their own little cocoon. Nothing else existed. They were alone. Jess lost track of time, but after keeping quiet for longer than Jess had hoped, Erica finally sighed, and then held out her device in front of her.

“To the spirits in this house my name is Erica. I’m here to communicate with you. I mean you no harm."

Jess held her breath and waited but nothing happened.

"If there are any spirits in the house today, I have to come to listen to any messages you may have."

Still, nothing happened. Erica turned to Jess.

"Do what you did your Gram's house."

“What do yo mean? I didn’t do anything. I just used my phone.”

“So…try it again. You never know. Maybe spirits are attracted to the electronics or something.”

Jess rolled her eyes but pulled her phone out of her pocket and loaded the app.

“I doubt this’ll do anything.”

“Just try it.”

After loading the app, Jess held her phone out in front of her. “To any spirits in the house, we are here to talk to you.”

Jess swept the phone out in front of her. It must have been a trick of the dark but Jess swore she saw something on the screen. She held the phone out a little further. For a brief moment, she saw a pale white flickering on the screen I the direction of the staircase and then it was gone. She jumped up then spun toward Erica.

"Did you see that?"

Erica jumped up. "See what?"

Jess pointed to the stairwell. “Over there. I saw a flash of white.”

“Stop kidding around, Jess!”

“I wouldn’t! Here! See for yourself!”

Jess shoved the phone into Erica’s hand and then pointed to the stairs. Erica took the phone, then held it out in front of her with one trembling hand. She took one tentative step, and then another. She approached the top of the staircase and then stopped.

“Hello?” she said. Her voice trembled as she spoke. “Is anyone there?”

Jess held her breath. She felt a hint of cold air circulate around her but nothing else.

Erica let out her breath and then turned to her. “I knew it. It was nothing. Geez, you really had me—”

Before Erica could finish her sentence, she flew backward. Before Jess realized what had happened, Erica disappeared from the top of the staircase. A sickly thud sounded up from the foot of the stairs.

Jess clamped her hand to her mouth. She was struck still. Her brain told her to go but her feet wouldn’t move. It was like something was holding her to her spot. No matter how much she willed her body to respond, to get to Erica, to get the hell out of there, she couldn’t move. All she could do was scream.