The Ghostly Chronicles: Chapter 8 Do the Shuffle
Ronnie and Uncle Jerry had gone out and bought tapes for the tape recorder. And some wood, I didn't really know what that was for. I made dinner for everyone so that it would be completed before it got dark. I was just waiting for Uncle J and Ronnie to bring my mom in. I was hoping that we could all get a little rest before the games began. I was dead tired, and I didn't see how my mom could go to work with barely any sleep every night. We all looked like hell. I wasn't quite 19 yet, and I had dark circles under my eyes.
I woke Mike up, and we all ate sandwiches; I wasn't much of a cook. Ronnie and my uncle were telling Mike about the things that had happened over the last few days. He had no idea, I didn't call him at Camp David, plus I had to be careful about what was being said on those phone lines anyway. Silence was golden. I didn't really want them to tell him, but it was too late. I felt like it was a mood setter, having everyone dwell on it, but who paid any attention to me. We were sitting on the sofa, and Mike asked what was under the blanket by the door. It was the vacuum cleaner. That was all I said. Ronnie filled him in on the rest, and Mike wanted to uncover it. I told him if he did that, Glen and I would get in the car and leave. That ended that discussion. It was getting dark, and I was getting nervous. I really wanted to miss the performance tonight, but that wasn't going to happen.
We were all wondering what the starting event would be. Activity had spread through several areas of the house, so we really didn't know from which way anything might be starting. Sam was put on his leash and was sitting at my feet. Poor dog, he looked pretty ragged and stressed out. He was panting like a freight train, and it was actually pretty chilly temperature-wise in the house; in fact, it was cold. The thermostat said it was in the sixties. We could really use a little heat. My mom said that there was a switch on the furnace that had to be turned on, and the furnace was in the utility room at the far end of the basement. At the rate it was going, it would be pretty cold in the house when the middle of the night rolled around. All three of the guys were going downstairs to take care of the furnace. That left my mom, Glen, Sam, and me upstairs by ourselves. I wasn't crazy about the plan. Before they left, we turned on the tape recorder, lit candles, and we all had flashlights, just in case.
The door at the bottom of the steps was unchained and unlocked, and they shoved it open with a foot. I ran back over and sat down. I just wanted them to hurry up. My uncle went to the utility room by himself. There was no door on it. He was afraid that the basement stairway door might get shut, so he had Ronnie stand by the door, and Mike was standing on the stones on the fireplace. It took about 5 minutes, but it seemed like hours. Pretty soon, they were locking the basement door and putting the chains back on. Then they came back up.
As soon as they got to the top of the stairs, the dog started raising hell and showing his teeth. Mike was as white as snow. I asked him what happened. He said while he was standing on the fireplace that he thought he heard someone breathing loud. He asked Ronnie if that was him and he said no, he thought it was Mike. They both held their breath on the count of 3, and something was still breathing right next to Mike. "Jerry, hurry up, we have to go." That was Mike, and no sooner than he said it, my uncle came trotting across the floor. They had company.
The way Sam was acting, I am pretty sure that their heavy breathing friend was with them. There was no action at the bottom of the steps, no twisting doorknob or shaking chain, but the dog was going berserk. I gave Mike the leash and told him to hold on to Sam and not let him go. Sam was a big dog, a collie, and weighed about 70 pounds. The marble sound hit against the end of the wall in the hallway. Mike would see what it was; we told him that there was nothing to be seen. It was all noise, nothing physical.
My mom and uncle were sitting at their favorite spot at the table. There were little clicking sounds all over the upstairs, like a Halloween clicker, how appropriate. That was new. The power flickered and came right back on. If it went out, we were prepared; nobody was going back into the basement for any reason. The shuffling feet sound started up at the back of the hallway. It sounded like somebody walking but not getting anywhere. Right at the top of the steps that glittery, tiny fragments that looked as small as dust in the bright sun started forming. And then it started getting wider and taller. I told Mike to take Sam over there and use a pillow to knock it away. Sam started leaping up at it, and Mike wooshed it away. He turned around, incredulous looking, and started back to the sofa. He had only taken a step or two, and it started forming again. He hit at it, and it immediately started forming again but much lower. Sam ran into it full force biting at it, snapping his jaws at it, and it vanished. It stopped.
Everyone reclaimed their seats, but the air was electric. This is really crazy. It was like an electrical charge that had been pumped into the room. Hair was standing up on our arms. The dog's hair was standing up on his back. There was an almost inaudible, extremely low pitched humming noise. The dog was turning his head from side to side, trying to figure it out. I've never heard a noise like that; it was barely a noise, almost a vibration kind of a sound. And then it was, pardon the word, dead quiet. You could hear every one of us breathing rapidly. I was so scared that it felt like my heart was beating double fast. It made me kind of light-headed and maybe just a smidge nauseous. I was quite sure that I didn't think I would be able to tolerate much more. Tears were coming down my cheeks, I didn't even know it, and I was shaking like a leaf. My uncle came over and squatted over and was talking to me softly. He was trying to reason with me and calm me down. He reminded me that I really didn't want to get in the car on the carport at night. He was right, he was. Something had happened to us out there, and I wasn't sure if I should write about it because it defied all logic and was terrifying.
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