Purgatech: Jess' Horror

Chapter Six

A few nights later, Jess and Erica were working as a tag-team in the kitchen at Gram’s house. Erica put the finishing touches on a batch of nachos while Jess poured various fruit juices into Gram’s prized punch bowl.

Down the hall, the boys were arguing over the soundtrack for the night’s festivities. Jess shook her head and sighed.

“Why I let you guys talk me into this, I have no idea,” she said, glaring at her best friend over her shoulder.

“First of all, the last thing I want is this crew trampling around our place after they’ve had one too many,” Erica said as she scattered a healthy serving of jalapenos across the contents of the platter.

Down the hall, Jess could hear the boys getting rowdy, letting out the occasional hoop and holler. She hesitated adding the rum to the punch.

“Oh, and letting them get all sloppy-drunk at Gram’s is any better?”

“Uh, yeah it is. Gram may be gone, but that doesn’t mean her influence is. No way they’d trash the place. They loved her, too.”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Erica said, lifting the over-sized platter with one hand. “My brother’ll keep them in line. Besides, we need to have one last blow-out before Gram’s executor sells the place.”

Gram being gone was bad enough. But the thought that someone else would be living in her house was almost too much to bear.

As if sensing what Jess was thinking, Erica moved beside her and hugged her with her free arm. “It’ll be okay. We’ve got each other. Now, finish up so we can get in there before those idiots start wrestling one another.”

Jess rolled her eyes before dumping the contents of the bottle into the punchbowl. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. One final party before she got back to real life. What could go wrong?

Erica coaxed Jess out of the kitchen. She shoved her up the hallway into the living room where the boys had all congregated. 80's pop music blared from the speakers Josh had set up in the front entryway. The plinking synthesizers made the crepe paper streamers and cheesy party store cut-out ghosts dance a disjointed jig.

"Party's here!" Erica shouted over the thumping beats.

"About time," Josh said, pushing past the other guys and grabbing at the platter of nachos. "You know you can't have movie time without snacks!"

"Hey!" Erica said, slapping at Josh’s grubby hand. “Save some for the rest of us, you Neanderthal!"

"Didn't your mom ever teach you how to share?" Josh said, pointing to the keg set up in the corner of the room. “I guess that means I can share with my buddy, Jess here.”

Jess put the punchbowl on the table then turned to find Kyle standing next to the keg. He turned and gave her an awkward smile. Jess’ first instinct was to head over there and plant a kiss on him. But her cheeks stung with the guilt of having seen Dylan the other day so she didn’t move an inch.

"Come on, Jess. Get a move on," Corey said. He bounded across the room as the familiar melody of the Ghostbusters theme blared from the speakers. "It's your fave flick of all time."

Josh and Erica let out a raucous round of groans. Jess spun on her heel and glared at them with her mouth hanging open.

"Are you guys seriously dissing the best 80's flick of all time?"

Josh looked at her like she'd grown a second head. "Girl? Are you nuts?"

"Uh...no! You've got thrills, chills, and the comedic stylings of one Mr. Bill Murray. What more could you ask for?"

"It's bull!" he said. "Slimer and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man? Not the least bit scary!"

"It's not supposed to be scary. It's supposed to be fun."

"Yeah, well, not only is it not fun, it's totally unbelievable,” Josh said, taking a swig of beer out of the red plastic cup he was holding. “Busting ghosts? Whatever."

Now it was Jess's turn to give him the side-eye. "Ghosts are real, you know."

"Oh come on. Kyle...dude. Talk some sense into your girl, would you?"

Kyle stood unresponsive in the corner nursing his beer.

"So what, you really believe ghosts are real, Jess?" Josh said.

Jess kept her mouth shut, wishing she hadn’t said anything. This wasn’t exactly the can of worms she wanted to open right now. With the beer flowing as freely as it was, coupled with the lingering awkward vibe Kyle was putting out, things could get out of hand pretty quickly.

“Doesn’t matter if they’re real or not,” Corey said. “Just matters if people believe.”

Josh took a swig of his beer. "Yeah, well, show me that dude and I'll show you a fool."

“Who says it’s a dude,” Erica said.

"Erica!" Jess called out. "Don't!"

"Don't what?" Corey asked.

“What, we’re all friends here, right?” Erica said.

“We might not be by the end of the night,” Jess warned her.

“Just leave it alone,” Kyle offered from the corner. “Let’s try to have a good time and forget about that crap, huh?”

It only took a split second for Jess’ annoyance to ricochet from her best friend squarely onto Kyle. She jutted her jaw out to one side and gave him a withering glare before turning back to Corey.

“Erica never told you about what happened the other night?”

“Jess,” Kyle said, finally coming out of the corner and approaching her, but she moved away from him.

“What?” Corey asked. “What happened?”

“It was after everyone left. After we’d all been listening to music. After everything started to die down.”

“Look, I’m not going to stick around if this is the kind of night we’re going to have.”

Kyle plunked his cup down on the table and started out of the room but Josh jumped in front of him.

“Whoa, man. You need to chill out. You see, this is exactly why we need this night. So you two can stop your bickering and things can get back to normal.”

“Let me go, man,” Kyle warned him.

“No way. I’m not letting you out of here. I paid an arm and a leg for that keg. Now, we’re all friends here. Just stay. Chill out. Don’t be so uptight, man. Besides, your girl was about to tell us a story. Right, Jess?”

“Oh, it’s a story alright,” Kyle said, glancing over at Jess.

“It might be a story, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t true,” she said.

“Will someone get on it with it so we can get back to drinking?” Corey said.

“Corey!” Erica said, elbowing him in the side.

“It’s not a big deal,” Jess said.

“So then…spit it out already,” Corey said, stomping across the room to refill his cup form the keg.

“I saw something that night,” Jess said, avoiding the look Kyle gave her. “Something that I know was real but that Kyle here thinks is just my mind playing tricks on me.”

“Ooh, tell us more!” Josh said.

Jess could feel the annoyance wafting from where Kyle now stood with his arms crossed over his chest. But she was tired of his attitude, tired of the way he just dismissed her. He might as well be hanging out with those i***t jocks and their petty little cheerleader girlfriends, judging her.

“I went into the back room. You guys were all in here. But I felt like I wasn’t alone. That’s when I felt…something. Like a hand on the back of my head, stroking my hair, the same way Gram used to when I was little.”

“And then?” Corey said.

“I sat up. When I turned to see who was there, that’s when I saw her.”

“Who? Erica?” Corey asked.

“I was still in here with you, dummy,” Erica said.

“Not Erica. Gram.”

Jess waited. She expected one of the boys to make a joke or throw in one of their snarky comments but no one said a word.

“I know what you guys are thinking.” She looked pointedly at Kyle, who raised one eyebrow at her as though to say ‘I told you so’. “But I know what I saw. And that isn’t the first time something like that has happened to me. Its been happening to me all my life.”

“So, what everyone says about you is true,” Corey said.

“Oh my god!” Erica said.

“What! I didn’t mean anything bad by it, I swear!” he said, holding both hands up in protest. “I just mean…I’ve heard people talk about you around campus, Jess. I just thought they were being gossipy little brats, that’s all.”

“Don’t even worry about it,” Jess said. “I’ve heard it all too. Morticia. Freak. Trust me.”

“It doesn’t matter what people say about you, Jess. We all know you. We know you wouldn’t lie about something about this. Right guys?” Erica said.

She spun around, gesturing at the rest of the group but the others either sipped from the plastic cups awkwardly or, like Kyle, stared off into space looking like he’d rather be anywhere else but here.

Josh stood by the keg in the corner, barely able to stifle a giggle.

“I can prove it,” Jess blurted out.

She plucked her phone out of her back pocket. She scrolled to the little Purgatech ghost icon on her home-screen and tapped it to open the app.

"Who you gonna call, Jess?" Josh said, spitting his beer out at the same time.

"I'm not calling anyone. I'm gonna prove to you that ghosts are real."

She stomped across the room, reached for the door to the fuse box in the hallway and flicked the switch. The entire room went dark and the music fell silent.

"Whoa!" Corey shouted. "Okay, Jess. we get it. You're pissed."

"Oh, I'm not pissed. But I am going to prove you jerks wrong."

"Come on, Jess. How the hell is turning out the lights going to do that?"

"Just try it. Try the app. Prove me wrong, Josh."

She used the dim blue glow of the screen to light her way as she crossed the room and shoved the phone into Josh’s hand. The pale light illuminated his face. It was obvious from the way his gaze darted around to the room that he wasn’t exactly such a tough guy anymore.

When she shoved the phone at him, he shook his head at her and rolled his eyes. "If it'll shut you up so we can get back to drinking...then fine."

He took the phone from her and looked at the screen. “So, what the hell am I supposed to do with this anyway?”

“It’s an app called Purgavision. Basically, you use the screen to scan the room.”

He held the phone out in front of him and waved it around in the air. “Like this?”

“No, just…here. Give it to me,” Jess said. “You have to go slow, like this.”

Jess demonstrated, moving her hand in a wide arc in front of her.

“I don’t see anything,” Josh said, looking over Jess’ shoulder at the screen.

“That’s because it’s bull,” Kyle said from across the room.

“It takes time,” Jess said, biting back the anger in her voice. “You can’t expect to get a reading the first time you use it.”

She moved forward, sweeping her arm out in front of her as she moved.

“What is it supposed to see?” Josh said, moving with her.

“It locates energy. The type of energy spirits give off."

"Really," Corey said flatly from the other side of the room.

"It's true," Erica said. "When Jess told me what she saw, we came back over here and...we tried it."

“Are you kidding me?” Kyle said. “You’re dragging my sister into this crap now?”

Jess was about to lay into him when Josh grabbed her by the arm.

“Whoa! Did you do that?”

“Do what?” she said, looking up at him.

“On the screen. I saw something.”

“Oh great!” Kyle said, throwing one hand up in the air. “Now you’ve got him believing this crap too!”

“It isn’t crap!” Jess shouted. “I saw something that night!”

“I saw something that day we came back here,” Erica offered.

“And I swear I saw something too, dude,” Josh said from beside Jess between shallow breaths.

“I’m not making it up,” Josh said. “I saw something, man. Right here in front of us.”

"Sure you did,” Kyle said, shaking his head as he moved over to the old recliner and sinking down into it. “It’s just…the power of suggestion. Like a group hallucination or something.”

“The hell it is. Here, come take a look.”

Josh took the phone from Jess and held it out, slowly scanning the room in front of them, but Kyle didn’t move for his spot.

As Kyle moved the phone, a red and orange outline appeared on the screen. “What’s that?! Over there where Kyle’s sitting?”

"You see? That app? It's a glorified heat detector. It's picking up my body heat. Nothing more."

"Just...look! Look at the screen!" Jess begged.

"You know what, Jess? You're not going to convince me that-”

Josh's arm froze and he grabbed Jess by the arm. She looked up at him. The dim glow of the screen barely illuminated his face but she could see that his eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

"What?" Erica said, moving toward them, pulling Corey with her.

Josh moved his hand more slowly around himself, shaking his head. "This is...I mean it must be some kinda trick."

Eric and Corey crowded in beside them, all clamoring for a look at the screen.

"Holy crap!" Josh shouted.

The foursome moved toward Kyle, slowly, as though they might disturb the scene in front of them. Kyle’s red-orange heat signature remained on the screen but there was another blue-white outline there too. Jess couldn’t tell if it was behind him…or if it was in the exact same spot as Kyle.

“You guys are hilarious. What, did you cook up this little prank before I got here?”

When no one answered, Kyle moved to stand up but he stopped. The dim glow of the screen illuminated the look of confusion that spread across his face. He tilted his head to one side, and then his eyes grew wide. When he exhaled, a thin blue-white mist wafted in the air, encircling his face. When he turned his head to one side to look around, a pale blue-white outline of a body, tilted to one side, with a pile of hair coiffed into a beehive.

Josh dropped the phone and plunged the room into complete darkness. It clamored onto the floorboards so loudly that everyone in the room screamed.

Jess reached out for whomever was beside her, grabbing onto the first arm she felt. Someone tripped and fell onto the floor, making a ruckus as they moved toward the front hallway. After a few seconds and a distinctive click, the lights came back on and the music blared to life.

“What the hell was that?!” Josh shouted from the hall. “Did you see that thing?”

“That was no thing!” Corey said. “That was a ghost!”

“Gram’s ghost!” Erica said, wrapping her arms around Corey.

“Oh, come on!" Kyle said, jumping up from the chair and bolting past the group of them. "This is some joke you guys cooked up to try to freak the rest of us out. Well, it's not going to work."

"We all saw it, Kyle!” Jess said. “You did too.”

“Uh uh. No way. I didn’t see crap,” he said, his voice wavering.

“Bull!” Jess shouted, following after him. “Why won’t you just admit it? Why won’t you give this a chance?”

Jess reached out to stop him but he’d already made it to the front door. When she grabbed him by the arm, he jumped. He spun away from her, yanking his arm from her grip.

“Leave me alone!” he shouted. His chest rose and fell as he practically hyperventilated.

“Kyle—”

“No. I’m done. All of this is ridiculous. And I’m not going to hang around here anymore if this is all you guys are going to talk about.”

Kyle yanked open the door and stomped out onto the porch

“Kyle, wait man!” Josh called after him.

“I’m leaving. If you guys want a ride, it’s now or never.”

Without waiting, Kyle bolted down the stairs and headed for his car. The others came toward Jess. When she turned to them, they looked at her the same way the cheerleaders had after that run-in with them the other day on-campus.

Jess didn’t say a word. She moved aside and let them follow after Kyle like a couple of lost puppies.

“Sorry, Jess,” Josh said, hanging his head. “But Kyle’s my ride.”

“Forget it,” Jess said.

“I don’t think I can,” Corey said, giving Erica a quick peck on the cheek before bolting past Jess and following after Josh.

Jess watched with a sinking feeling as the boys piled into Kyle’s car. He started the engine and peeped away before Jess could even think.

She turned away, stepped back and closed the door. Without saying anything, she brushed past Erica and bolted upstairs, not stopping until she’d made it into the safety of her room.

She flung herself onto her bed and buried her face in her pillow, blinking back frustrated tears. Those wimps could be in denial as much as they wanted. Jess didn’t care. She knew what she saw. She didn’t care if they believed her. She knew one person who would.