Purgatech: Aaron's Terrible Realization

Chapter 6

"Changing rooms? Why?" I didn't like the way this conversation was going.

"We need to do a bit of maintenance is all. That door should have remained shut."

"What, exactly, are you maintaining?" I asked.

"There’s some structural damage to that part of the house. Floors aren't safe."

"Oh you don't have to worry about me going in there." I started to laugh, remembering the night before. "I was so scared when Omri was bringing dinner that..."

"Aaron. You will be moving rooms. That is not an option." She glared. I was very aware in that moment that I was working for these people, not necessarily with them. "Now, would you like to continue where we left off?"

"I'm sorry. Yes, ma'am. Go on."

She smiled and instantly the awkward feelings left the air. "Ma'am? What do I look like, some old woman? You people down here kill me."

"What can I say? It's a habit. Call my little sister the same thing."

"Good to know me and your sis' are on the same level. Anyway, take a look up here. Let me show you a couple of goodies that make this app special." Sparks directed my attention to the projector screen.

"There are several different programs and devices that have been developed to help with locating and communicating with ghosts."

She used a laser pointer as she ran down a list of names that all seemed to begin with "Purg". There was Purgavison, Purgoggles, Purgaware, and (the most ominous sounding) the Purgatory Doorway. Talk about shameless branding.

"These tools are all designed to help one find, see, or communicate with ghosts. We'll be starting you off with the basics that you need to get going. Should be enough to occupy you for awhile. May I have your phone please?"

"Uh, sure." I handed it over.

"Thanks." Sparks walked to one of the computers and plugged my phone into it.

"I'm downloading the Purgavison app for you. It is the basis for everything we do. With it you can locate orbs and communicate with ghosts."

"What kind of communication, exactly?" I asked. "Like a phone call?"

"Man, I wish. No, we haven't gotten that far yet. Of course, as you saw, once the ghosts are downloaded, you can just have a normal conversation with them. But before that, you have to use the etherchip feature."

Sparks tapped the keyboard next to her a few times and brought up a screen. "This was my personal touch to a basic ouji board app." She smiled proudly as a large keyboard appeared under a text box on the screen. "This is what your phone will display when you have activated the etherchip feature." She walked over to one of the piles of electronic junk and started to rummage around.

"Is that a text editor?"

"Pretty much," she said, standing up with something in her hand. She walked back and threw it to me. "You need this to make it work, though."

I looked down and found that I was holding a small glowing object. Blue in color and roughly shaped like a teardrop.

"What is this?"

"It's an etherchip. Keep it with you at all time from now on."

"Is this thing some sort of electronic?" It felt like a crystal or smooth piece of glass but the blue light it gave off had to be artificial.

"Sort of. Trade secret though. Can't explain too much. Anyway, have you ever used a Ouija board?"

"A few times when I was a kid. To be honest though, they make me really uncomfortable. Didn't seem to bother the other kids but I didn't really have much fun when we played with it. I always felt like something bad might happen."

"Smart kid," said Sparks. "Bad s**t can happen. Especially when kids start playing around with this stuff. You have to know what you’re doing."

"I guess so." I was thinking about the time that my "friends" had all run out of the closet where we were playing with s Ouija board. I guess they had planned it out before hand because they just all ran out together. Shut the lights off and locked the door. I guess they thought it was funny. But they couldn't here the ragged breathing coming from the back of the closet. My hands were bruised for weeks from pounding on the door.

"Come back to earth," Sparks said. I snatched out of my memories and shook my head. "Anyway, like I was saying, this is similar to a traditional Ouija board except that instead of a planchette, you use this etherchip. It translates the ghost’s communications into this text editor. Instead of pausing over a letter or number like you normally see on a board, the etherchip punches that key on your phone."

"So it's like ghost texting?" I had to laugh at the idea.

"I guess, if you want to make it that simple, yes, you are essentially texting ghosts."

"Can I try?"

"Not just yet. I need to show you one other feature that works in conjunction." Sparks picked up my phone and pulled the cable from it. "What's your passcode?"

"Um..."

"Oh, come on. I don't care about your browser history, I just need I get the app pulled up for you."

"Ten twenty six," I said.

"Got it." She tapped through several screens rapidly, being polite enough to show me the phone so that I knew she wasn't snooping.

When Sparks handed me the phone back, the camera was open. There was a small blue teardrop in the top right corner that I'd never seen.

"I gave Purgavison access to your camera. This is the orb viewing function of the app."

"So I'll see little floating balls of light?" It seemed a little gimmicky.

"Yep, pretty much. The ghosts are always there, always just on the other side of the barrier between realities. The closer they are, or the thinner the barrier is, the brighter the orbs will be. Try it out."

I took turned around in my chair, scanning the room with my phone's camera. Sure enough, small specks of light appeared here and there on the screen. They looked like fireflies.

"Wow, those are all ghosts?" It was quite an experience to be shown the thing you always believed in but had no proof for. "Can we talk to one?"

"In just a minute. First, take a look up here for me." She motioned to the projected screen on the wall.

Sparks clicked a button on her remote and started a slide show. It showed screenshots of phone camera screens with orbs in different places. Some were inside, others in the outdoors. One even appeared to be hovering over open water, probably offshore in the ocean.

"Notice how all of these are varying shades of blue. Some are so dark as to be almost black. Others, almost completely white." She tapped me on the shoulder and I looked up into her solemn face.

"If you don't here anything else, listen to what I am about to tell you. Blue is okay. Blue is good, in fact. A blue ghost is a peaceful spirit. They might cause some mischief now and then but they were good people when they were alive and they have carried that positive nature over into their next reality."

"Blue orbs are good. Got it."

"Not just the orbs. Do remember anything strange about Bobby when you met him?"

"You mean other than the fact that he was dead?" I smirked, couldn't help myself.

"This is serious, Aaron."

"Okay, my bad. Yeah, he didn't really have eyes. Just blue light."

"Exactly. The blue will show up in all sorts of ways with these guys. The good ones, anyway. What you have to watch out for is..."

"Red," I said, before I could stop myself.

Sparks stared at me. "How did you know that?"

"Lucky guess."

"Don't play with me, kid. What have you seen?" All of the warmth had left her.

"Nothing. I swear I was just guessing. The bad guys are always red. Look at Star Wars."

"Fine. You're right, though. Red is bad. Bad, Aaron. Very, very bad. If you see any red in connection with ghosts or anything on the app, you turn it off and leave the area."

"Okay. Lighten up, I'll stay away from red." I was starting to feel grateful for my room change.

"Good. You'll be glad you did. Now, let's try out the app really quick before we finish up. Take another look around the room."

I took a quick survey around the room, wondering what I was looking for.

"With the camera orb feature, dummy."

"Oh, right." I brought the screen up and scanned the room again.

One orb was much brighter than the others and I focused the camera on it.

"Okay," Sparks said from over my shoulder. "Now, tap the blue teardrop in the corner of the screen." I did so and a blue box appeared. It was slowly shrinking. "Make sure that you keep the orb you want to communicate with in that box. The square continued to shrink until it was just big enough for the orb to fit inside of it. The screen blinked rapidly and then switched to a text editor like the one that Sparks had showed me on the projector.

"Now what?" I asked.

"Now you make contact. You can use the text editor manually if you would like but we have added a voice recognition feature so you are able to simply speak. Much like you would if this were a traditional Ouija board."

"Okay." I felt a little self-conscious about starting up a conversation in front of Sparks. I didn't know how to talk to dead people. I was nervous enough around living strangers. "Hello," I said, feeling a bit foolish.

The word "Hello" appeared on the screen of the text editor. At least it was working correctly so far. Nothing happened, though, no response.

"Try again," Sparks said. "Be a little more conversational. Some ghosts seem reluctant to respond at first if you aren't specific."

"Hello, orb. Um, person. I'm sorry, I a little nervous if you can't tell." Sparks put her face in her hand and shook her head at my bumbling. "I would like to speak with you if you could take a few moments from your day."

To my surprise, words began to appear on my phone's screen, responses from the ghost. "I have all of the time in the world. But why should I waste it on you?"

"Holy s**t. This actually works." I couldn't believe it. I shot Sparks a look. "You guys aren't messing with me, right? This is actually coming from that orb?"

"That's right, you're in touch with a spirit, Aaron. Keep going, don't let the conversation get boring. They will leave if they aren't entertained."

"Right." I wasn't sure where to be looking to address the ghost so I just stared at my phone. "How do you like living in this house?"

The response came quickly. "Well, I'm not really living in it, am I?"

"Is this ghost being a smart ass?" I couldn't help smiling. "No, I don't suppose you are, really. Will you tell me your name?"

"You already know it."

"Bobby, is that you?"

"Wow, you guess name's way better than you catch baseballs." Little bastard.

"Well,” I said, “it's nice to run into you again."

Sparks leaned toward me. "Ask him why he followed you in here."

"Why don't you ask him?"

"I can't. The link you have created is just between the two of you. He wouldn't hear anything I said. I could only talk to him if you downloaded him and brought him through to this side."

"Bobby, did you follow me in here?"

There was a pause and his response appeared on the screen. "Maybe."

"Why did you follow me?" I was genuinely curious.

"I like you," he said. I was touched.

"I like you too, big guy. Is that why you were in the closet in my room?"

The response came very quickly. "No."

"Oh, well then why did you follow me to the room?"

"I did not follow you."

"Okay," I said, feeling a little frustrated with his avoiding a straight answer.

"Were you or were you not in the closet in the bunk room?"

"I was not, I am not allowed in that room."

"Well, then who was it?"

"I cannot say."

"Why not?"

"I am not allowed."

"Who is stopping you?"

Before a response came, the text editor disappeared. The app had crashed. I saw only the home screen of my phone.