Purgatech: Jess' Horror

Chapter Seventeen

Back in the mudroom, Jess’ heart raced. They really were trapped in this house. There was no way out of there. The message on her Purgavision app had led them there, but why? Was it all some sick joke, giving them hope and then yanking it away from them?

“We have to get the hell out of here!” Rob said.

He pushed past Jess, scraping his fingers across the bricks, trying to claw his way through. When he realized he wasn’t getting anywhere, he started shouting for help at the top of his lungs.

“Well, that’s not going to get us out of here!” Jess yelled.

He spun toward her. “But they told us there’s camera’s all over this place. Surely they see! Surely they know what the hell’s going on in here! Why haven;t they pulled us out of here yet?”

“It’s obvious! They don’t care!” Jess said, ripping her pack from her back and throwing it to the floor. She couldn’t stand carrying it any longer. It felt like it was suffocating her.

She was still wearing her Purgawear amplifier. It hissed like crazy, every sound needling her nerves. She tapped it to turn it off.

“Don’t care, they don’t care!” Grace started repeating over and over from the corner.

“Shhh,” Jess said, going over to comfort her.

“Granny’s freaking cracked up!” Rob said, starting to pace back and forth. “Shut her the hell up!”

“Maybe you should shut the hell up! Make yourself useful and go see if you can find us another way out of here!”

When Rob glared at her, Jess took a step toward, stomping her boot on the floor. It was enough to get him to leave. The moment he was gone, Grace stopped freaking out and went quiet.

“It’s okay, Grace. I promise you, we’re going to get out of here soon.”

The moment Jess said it, she regretted it. What if she was just giving the old lady false hope? What if they never made it out of here at all. She tilted her head back and looked up to the ceiling.

“Gram, of you’re out there somewhere, I could really use your help right now!”

Jess wasn’t sure what she was expecting but there was no response, so she continued.

“To the spirits in this house. Sarah…It’s Jess. We aren’t trying to hurt you. We just want to get out of here. Please…please just let us go.”

The air in the room shifted. Just out of the corner of her eye, Jess saw something shift. She spun away from it, grabbing Grace and jumping back, but it was just Rob.

“There’s no way out. The front door’s locked!” he said. “Why would they lock us in here? Why are they torturing us?”

Jess shook her head. She didn’t know why. She didn’t know why any of this was happening. But Dylan? Surely he saw what was going on. He’d said they would be watching 24-7. So had he left, gone home for the night? Or was he just watching and didn’t care?

Well, Jess wasn’t going to stand around waiting for an answer. She was going to find a way to ask him. She moved past Rob and went out into the corridor. The sense of panic started to rise from the pit of her stomach. That's when she spotted one of the light fixtures on the wall Dylan had mentioned when he was giving them a tour of the house that first day. Jess sprinted towards it and stood in front of it directly from it.

"Hello? Is anyone out there? Are you watching this? If you’re trying to scare us well, bravo! You’ve don a freaking bang-up job of it! But we’ve had enough! Get your asses over here and get us the hell out of here!”

Like every other time Jess gave a cry for help, there was no response. She screamed, stomping her bots on the floor. Why were they just letting this happen? Were they that sadistic? Were they getting off on watching them freak out or something? Jess lunged for the camera again.

"I don’t know what you guys are trying to pull but if you don't get us out of there right now, the minute I do get out I’m going to report each and every one of you to the cops. Now open the freaking front door!"

Nothing.

Jess felt a lump form and the base of her throat. A flash of that day they arrived went through her mind. Kyle was pissed about it all. He’d called Dylan on it. Said he was just doing this to prey on the vulnerable. It looked like he was right. Dylan was just a selfish corporate drone doing what he needed to do to make money, no matter who got hurt in the process.

Jess turned her back to the camera and leaned against the wall, sliding down until she sat on the floor.

How did things get this way? How did Dylan turn into this guy who only cared about profits? Did he even believe? Did he ever?

Jess had been dating Dylan around the time the cheerleaders and the rest of the football team had lured her here all those years ago. At irst, she never intended to tell him but when she drove home that day after the wya they’d ambushed her, she was shaking from head to toe. It wasn't just what those it it kids had done to her, it was what had happened here. It all seemed so crazy and impossible to explain but somehow, Dylan believed her. He'd found her sitting on the floor of her bathroom sobbing when he came to see her that day. She knew she must've looked crazy, that her story was completely unbelievable but when he finally dragged it out of her, Dylan didn't doubt her for a moment. He didn't call her crazy or think that she was some kind of freak. He wrapped his arms around her and stroked her hair and told her that he believed her.

But now? Jess didn’t even know if Dylan was still out there. Even worse, if he was, he sure as hell wasn’t making any kind of effort to help her.

So she was going to have to help herself.

Somehow, Jess mustered the energy to push herself up from the floor. She headed back to the mudroom. Rob stood at a small window next to the bricked-up door. There were shutters on the outside, but they were closed.

He turned to her as she walked in. “No luck with your boyfriend, huh?”

Jess shook her head. She didn’t have the strength to correct him. She looked to where Grace sat silently whimpering to herself. Jess felt so bad for her. Why the hell Purgatech thought she would be a good candidate for this trial, Jess would never know. It was taking everything out of Jess to be here in this house. She had no idea how Grace was still standing.

“So…you know all about this kinda stuff right?”

Jess waited for one of his characteristic snide remarks but none came.

"I guess so."

"Why the hell is this happening then?" Rob asked. "Why is the spirit trying to keep us in here? What is she trying to hurt us? Why’d she hurt your friend?"

Jess sunk down on the floor next to Grace, tilted her head back and leaned against the wall. Pulling her knees up to her body, she wrapped her arms around her knees. She felt cold. She just wanted to get out of here. She just wanted to press the rewind button, go back to life a few months ago when her and Erica were at home and still going over to Gram’s every Sunday for dinner. But she knew those days were gone forever now.

"At first I thought it was going to be cool, you know? I tried the Purgavision app at home and I got results right away."

"Who did you see?"

Jess paused for a moment. "My Gram. She died a few weeks ago but that wasn’t the first time I've had an experience like that. Stumbling upon Purgatech was like a beacon in the darkness for me. I thought I was going to come here, have all my beliefs confirmed and maybe… I don't know. I’m not really sure what I expected to happen, to tell you the truth."

"That makes sense," Rob said.

Jess did a double take, making him chuckle softly.

"Look, I know I've been giving you crap this whole time. And it's no secret that I'm one of the biggest skeptics there could be about this kinda stuff. But after what I've seen? After what we've experienced here? I believe man. I just don't know why this thing’s trying to hurt us."

"Did you read any of the history of this place?" Jess asked.

"A little."

"Then you know the story of Sarah Ridgely, right? It wasn't just that she died here. After she lost everything, she holed herself up in the room upstairs. At least that’s how the story went. But I’m starting to think that someone kept her up there. Someone didn't want her leave and now she wants us to suffer the same fate as her."

"So, you think that's why these Purgatech guys picked this house?"

“They must've. They must've known. I mean you don't just pick a place like this randomly. You don't just go to some random place and expect to see something. Places have history. They absorb the energy of things that happen there. I think some are more susceptible than others. I don't know if you believe this but people say that throughout the world, there are places that where the veil is thinner."

"What you mean, veil?"

Jess leaned back against the wall and crossed her arms over her chest.

“The fabric that divides us from the spirit world is thinner and that's what allows the spirits to sometimes permeate that veil. It's what I think happened upstairs. One minute, I saw that spirit and all of a sudden, it was gone. It must have slipped through the veil for a brief moment. I think some places are just more susceptible to that type of activity . Places that hold these negative emotions from things that happened in the past. Like the spirits are drawn to them. It’s like the negative thing ripped a hole in the veil, and they know they can slip through.”

"So what do we do? I mean, no offense, but the last thing I want is to spend forever locked up in here with you and whatever's running around upstairs."

"I don't know," Jess said, sighing. "Somehow I don't think we’re going to solve this by sitting in here, waiting. You don’t seem like the type of guy who just sits around, waiting for something to happen either, Rob.”

For the first time since she met him, Rob laughed. "You got that right, girl."

"Well, I'm not the type of girl who just gives up. So, what you say we do something about it?"

He motioned to Grace with his chin. “What do we do about her?"

Jess regarded her. She hated to leave her in here alone but she felt like they would cover a lot more ground without having to worry about her.

"I think if we just leave your here, she should be okay."

Jess stood up and brushed the dust from her jeans. She went over to where Grace was sitting. She leaned down whispered into her ear.

"Grace, you just stay here for a little while and rest okay? We’re going to go get us out of here."

Grace didn't respond. Jess wasn't even sure if the little old lady heard her.

Sighing, Jess grabbed her pulled her phone out of her pocket. The Purgavision app was still running. When she held it up, she saw the reading on the display.

“s**t. The temperature is really low in here.”

“No s**t,” Rob said, shivering beside her.

“No, look. This is like really low. And watch this.” She pointed to the screen. “See those spikes? These are some really crazy temperature drops. Spikes like this are associated with spirits.”

“Well, we kinda already knew we had a few of those.”

Jess moved toward to door that led out into the main floor. She paused at the door, tilting her head to one side and listened. All was silent. Still. Too still.

“This thing is giving off some serious readings.”

As she watched the display, a digital graph on the side similar to a stereo equalizer jumped up before sliding back down again.

“I'm also getting intense EMF readings over here.”

“s**t! Mine too! Look!”

Rob came barreling toward her, holding out his phone. The graph on his device made an intense spike. Just as it did, Jess, tapped the Purgawear device on her hoodie. It sprang to life, letting out an intense burst of staitc that made them both jump.

“Jesus, that thing is going crazy right now!”

“I know! And this thing keeps jumping!” Jess said.

“Cripes,” Rob said. “Not gonna lie. I'm shaking so much. That just about made my heart stop.”

He paused, then tilted heis head to one side.

“What? Jess said.

“I…I swear I just heard something.”

“What?”

“I…I heard a voice. You hear that?”

Jess didn’t but she could see from the terror in his eyes that he wasn’t kidding.

“We hear you!” Jess called out. “We hear you. Just keep talking. Tell us what you want!”

The amplifier pulsed a few times in a staccato rhythm of static.

“She wants us to hear her!” Rob said, holding his phone out in front of him and waving it in a wide arc.

“Is your thing freaking out?” he said.

Jess’ amplifier pulsed as if on cue.

“What are you?” Rob shouted. “What id it? You wanna be heard? Well, you got our attention!”

Suddenly, a pulse of light flashed on the other side of the doorway. Before Jess could stop him, Rob pushed through the door and went into the hallway.

“Rob, wait!” she called to him, but it was too late. The door closed behind him.

Jess couldn’t stand there and wait. She pushed the door open and followed after him. By the time she made it out there, the lights in the front foyer were going crazy. Pulsing, flashing so fast that it made Jess dizzy. She reached out for the wall to steady herself as she followed in Rob’s footsteps.

He had moved to the front foyer and was spinning around in circles with his phone held out in front of him.

Jess started to run toward him but before she made it even a few steps, something grabbed her and slammed her into the wall. She screamed, trying to claw her way up, but it held onto her. She tried to flip over onto her stomach but it was too strong. She caught a brief glimpse of a hulking shadow figure over her before it started dragging her back down the hall.

“Rob! Help me!” she shouted.

She looked up just in time to see him making a run for her but then the presence grabbed a hold of him and sent him flying back to where he’d started.

“Screw you!” he shouted, trying to clamor up from the floor.

Every muscle in Jess’ body pulled taut as she tried to fight off the attack. She clawed and flailed at the floor, trying to find something, anything to stop herself, but the unseen thing had her and it dragged her kicking toward the mudroom.

When she got to the doorway, she managed to grab the door frame with both hands. She gripped either side, manging to temporarily stop the thing from pulling her any further. But it still managed to lift her body from the floor. She hung there, mid-air, with her legs hovering above the floor like she was flying through the air.

She glanced up, watching as Rob fought to make it to her. He clawed at the wall, pulling himself up the corridor, trying to make it to Jess. He growled, cursing, striding against the unseen force. With his jaw clenched and using every ounce of energy he had, he managed to make slow progress toward her.

When he finally got to Jess, he fell to his knees, grabbing her by both hands and clamping his hands over hers.

“Come on, you son of a b***h! Let her go!” he shouted.

Jess shrieked, kicking her feet, bucking her body, trying to do anything to break free from the spirit’s hold.

Finally, when she thought her bones would snap from the intense power the entity had on her, it released her. She fell to the floor with a thud.

The violence of the fall forced the air from her lungs. She gasped, trying to take in a few deep breaths. Rob pulled her toward him, propping her upright.

“It-it’s okay. We’re okay now. It’s gone. For now anyway. It’s gone.”

Jess pulled her arms to her body. She was shaking uncontrollably. She clenched her jaw to keep her teeth from chattering and then turned to Rob.

His face was drawn, his eyes bloodshot, his forehead etched with worry lines. He looked like he’d just been through a war. In a way, they both had been.

“We’re never getting out of here, are we?” Jess finally said.

When Rob didn’t respond, she shoved him.

“Come on! Don’t hold back now! Where are your smart-assed remarks? Your loser comments, your jibes? Come on, Rob! Say something! Anything!”

He simply sat there, silent, shaking his head at her.

Jess burst into tears and buried her face in his shoulder.