Page 2 of Possessed By Shadows

“Means you’ll get to play with it later,” I reminded him. His smile was warm even in the pale dredges of light projected by our phone cameras.

The group began to head toward the main doors of the house. It was a bit of a monstrous thing in size alone. Weathered and stripped on the outside, and painted with fading graffiti. At one time, three floors maybe? Likely severe weather had dropped the roof down on the third floor. Perhaps that had been an attic rather than an actual living space.

The swamp had reclaimed a lot of the area; the grass soggy close to the house. I hoped there was no sort of cellar or basement, as it would probably be filled with alligators. Or was it crocodiles? I couldn’t remember which was more common in the bayou. Desert combat had not prepared me for swamp monsters. I kept my eyes peeled for the glowing eyes of something looking for a snack.

Micah and I moved in behind the small crew going in. Cameras and lights projecting into the open doorway making it look like a gaping mouth. Micah looked around us, keeping plastered to my side. Did he hear anything? To me, the entire area was oddly silent. No birds or bugs, only the faint rustle of leaves. Though that could be because of the cold, or even our presence disturbing the normal rhythm of the place. I didn’t think humans ventured out here much. Not that they had a reason to. Inside, the house was a broken mess of smeared artwork, falling walls, and rotting wood.

“Careful where you step,” Lukas said leading the group around a giant hole in the floor. If there was a floor below, it was flooded, as all I caught when we passed was the gleam of water reflecting our flashlights.

I kept the thermal imager up, moving it slowly around the room. The handful of lights, as low as they were, messed with my night vision, so I tried to focus on the screen. The crew emulated heat, but the space itself was barely above freezing. It was going to be hard to recognize anything as something other than our heat moving around. Micah focused his camera on my thermal screen, arm wrapped around my elbow, locked in close.

“You two stay down here,” Lukas said, motioning to Micah and me. “We’re going to do a base scan of the rooms, set up some cameras and be back.”

I glanced up, not liking the look of the ceiling and rotting timbers above us. What if someone fell through? We were in the middle of nowhere. Medical attention would be long in coming. I opened my mouth to protest but Micah squeezed my arm, gaze focused on his camera and my thermal screen.

I blinked at it, and up. Something moved across the screen, only slightly above the normal room temperature. An animal maybe? I tried to see across to that open doorway, but it was too dark. The movement had been pretty faint on the screen. Maybe a trick of shadow?

“We should time stamp that,” Micah said.

“What?” Lukas demanded. Every word we whispered echoing loudly in the silence of the abandoned space.

“Something moved that way,” I said, pointing toward a distant doorway. “Barely a change in heat level from the environment. But showed up on the thermal. A shadow of one of our heat levels maybe?” Science in the paranormal space is something I’d begun researching a while ago. It was part of all the equipment Lukas had brought. His attempt toseeas I did, without whatever curse I had. But I still wasn’t sure it wasn’t all in my head. Even if Micah did sometimes see the same things. We were both a little strange. Maybe that’s why we fit so well together.

Lukas made his way back to us. He had Micah pause his recording and rewind to view. Everyone gathered around us searching out the small bit of movement.

“There,” Micah pointed it out.

Lukas made him replay it two more times before taking a group to the door and beyond to search for anything. He left us in the wide main room, with a stern warning to two of his team to keep an eye on us.

“I’d rather be quilting,” I grumbled.

Micah laughed. “Me too. We sort of have quite the stack now.”

We had been a bit fanatical about getting things done. Everyone we knew got a quilt for the holiday. And who knew sending something that big overseas would cost a fortune? But we’d gotten letters back from Micah’s family, praising the work and thanking us for the gifts. I hadn’t really expected anything as my family was never big on gifts. My mom had called and that was all. Micah’s family had sent us enough to cause a bit of havoc in our tiny apartment space. From real fabrics made in Japan, to a stack of books on legends and history from his father, to wildflower honey from a cousin I’d never heard of.

I groaned. “Dreaming of honey now. Over buttermilk biscuits.” Which Micah couldn’t eat because his stomach hated anything dairy.

“There’s a new vegan bakery right off Bourbon we can try tomorrow. But I have a couple protein bars packed if you’re hungry.”

Of course he did. He probably had a crochet project and several hooks in that backpack of his, too. As much for himself as for me. “Not right now. But thank you.” I kept an eye on the area we’d seen the movement. Nothing happened, though the creaking of the house indicated the group had gone upstairs. I stared upward warily. “Let’s hope the house doesn’t fall on us.”

The crew began to return. I jumped when their heat signatures appeared in the doorway. These things didn’t see through walls, that much I knew, but I should have been prepared for them. I could hear them moving around the house.

“There’s a couple rooms upstairs. One actually has some furniture,” Lukas said. “Cameras are set up. I think we’ll have Micah and Alex start up there.”

“Really?” I groaned. “Why are we here again?”

“Testing. Make sure that stuff works,” Lukas waved at me. “Are you seeing a creepy black-eyed kid?”

I glared at him. “No, just an annoying big brother.”

The crew eyed me. Had they not known about the thing that followed me? Micah had seen it. I knew it wasn’t a me thing. Not exactly. My first encounter had been something much more terrifying. I wasn’t sure if it had changed or presented itself differently so it could use me whenever it wanted. I wasn’t a fan of the latter option.

Lukas led us through the doorway, flashlight bright and almost blinding in the darkness. I kept my camera and the thermal, held up. The digital recorder was stuffed in my pocket. There was no movement or sign of anything as we made our way to a back staircase half broken by weathering. I did not like climbing to the creaking second floor.

Micah gripped my arm tight, but I didn’t see anything that caused alarm. Maybe the charms were working? If so, I’d have to get him some too. I still felt ridiculous draped in random supernatural paraphernalia.

Most of the inside walls were gone and parts of the roof had caved in, leaving patches of gray covered night sky above. We didn’t even have the comfort of starlight.