David opened my eyes slowly, realizing that he was standing in front of a three-story white house. This was exactly the same house that Aggie showed to him on her Facebook and Instagram. Her little white BMW was on the curb. That meant she had parked another two cars in the parking lot. It was a quiet night. The moon was shrouded by clouds and was nowhere to be seen. He raised his head and noticed that her brother’s room was completely dark, but there was a dim light in her room. It was 2 am, normally, she should have been sleeping by now. Obviously, she kept her promise and was waiting for her online buddy. David floated toward the solid wooden door, stretched out his hand to the metallic doorknob, but paused suddenly. How could he forget what he was now? He took a big step and then passed through the door like a ghost.
Complete darkness. Something wasn’t right about this house but now David couldn’t be sure what it was. No time to waste. He must go to her before she fell asleep. Or she might think David was a fraud and a liar. According to what she had told him earlier, there was a spiral stair in the far left corner of the living room, and that would lead him to her room on the second story of the house. Her elder brother should be sleeping now in his room on the third level. Within a minute, David was standing outside of her room. Aggie was a famous KOL, and she had many fans and followers on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. They became online buddies one month ago and had been chatting almost every night. She told him that she could see dead people and he told her that he had acquired the skill of voluntary “Out of Body”. At first, they both thought the other side was making up bedtime stories, but finally, they were both convinced. Her superpower was innate, while David’s superpower was enlightened by the death of his parents.
Sitting on her double size springboard, Aggie was reading a Judy Blume’s novel. Suddenly she put down her book, rubbed her eyes, and then looked at the time on her iPhone. At the same moment, a silhouette at the corner caught her attention. She was surprised but wasn’t shocked. David’s instinct told him that he wasn’t the first spirit she saw. “How long have you been standing there?” She blurted out.
“I just came in a few seconds ago. I tried to knock, but as you know, I couldn’t. Well, I didn’t expect you to actually see me and we can have a conversation in real life." David replied with an excited tone.
“I can’t believe this either!” Aggie murmured, “You are a very special case of Out of Body experience, OOBE. Normally an OOBE is a form of autoscopy, seeing-self, astral projection, or spirit walking. OBEs can be induced by traumatic brain injuries, sensory deprivation, near-death experiences… and psychedelic drugs. But look at you, your spirit can walk outside of your body voluntarily and you can talk to people.”
“Very impressive. Where did you get all this information?” David stared at Aggie in surprise.
“I looked it up from Wikipedia. Statistically, one out of ten people have OOBE once or several times in their life. Come. Let’s see what else you can do and cannot do!” Aggie was excited and intrigued.
“I am glad to see you too, but this is not a social visit tonight. I came all the way to see your problem. Also, I am running out of time.” He said firmly. “I think this house is haunted!” Aggie answered.
“Okay, please follow me. I will show you.” Aggie whispered. Following the famous KOL, David was behind her passing through the corridor, the same spiral stair, and then entering the living room again.
“Is this a haunted place?” David lowered his voice and asked. “I already felt something wrong when I came in.”
Turning on the ceiling lamp, the girl replied, “I saw apparitions here. They were probably not adults, but kids. Ghosts of some kids. Sometimes they moved around or floated around here. But the living room isn’t their major area. I think they came from the basement.”
David listened carefully and tried to feel what she was saying, “ When did it happen? What made you think those ghosts or spirits came from the basement?”
Aggie walked toward the entrance as she spoke. “My parents are living in Europe. My brother and I moved into this house two months ago. We kept some old furniture and junks in the basement. Come, you will understand when you see it.”
There was a wooden door on the far right side of the entrance. He didn’t notice this door when he came in because it was too dark. Aggie stood still and pointed to that door with her index finger.
Holding a torch with both hands, Aggie straightened her posture, opened the door, and ordered, "you go first!”
When he leaned forward and looked down at the descending stairwell. a cold breeze wafted up from below and across their faces. A sudden drop in temperature was strong evidence of paranormal activity. They stared at each other. “Are you sure you want to do this? You don’t have to. It is perfectly fine for you to go back to your room now.” David squinted his eyes and looked at her seriously.
“This is my house and I need to know what is occupying my basement and why. Also, I am not alone. I have you now!” The young lady commanded confidently. He was speechless and wished that he had her confidence. David walked slowly down the stairwell and she was following him from behind. The piercing light from her torch just penetrated him who was now translucent. Suddenly, in the middle of the descending stair, they could almost hear a chuckling sound from the distant darkness in front of them. It was like something had been watching them silently.
“Did you hear that?” He mumbled, “I think we are being watched. Let’s turn back!”
“No! There is a switch to turn on the basement lights at the end of the stairwell!” Aggie grumbled as she took a big step forward and tried to switch the lights on. Hissed, but no light. They were still in complete darkness and the only source of light was her little torch.
There was no window in this basement which was the size of the living room plus the dining room. Old furniture and boxes of different sizes are placed everywhere haphazardly. “For your safety, we must cancel this little adventure now. There is nothing to see here!” David demanded earnestly. Aggie wasn’t listening to him and was looking at a motionless shadow hiding behind some junks.
They staggered toward the boxes which they believed something or someone was hiding behind. Aggie was positive that she saw the intruder and David could feel that this place was in fact haunted. Moving closer, they both sensed that the pressure from the surrounding area heightened and the temperature continued to drop as if they were being circled by predators from the darkness, and the circle was getting smaller and smaller. Finally, they were standing in front of it.
“It is nothing. You will need a pair of new glasses.” David smirked sarcastically. Aggie hesitated and stretched her arm to pull the white cloth which then fell on the wooden floor. What she beheld was simply a piece of white cloth covering a hanger.
Relieved, she exhaled and started to smile at him, who was uneasy and continued to look around. “Are you okay? Now you believe something is wrong here?” She tried to pat on his shoulder but her hand passed through him. His instinct served him well most of the time and tonight shouldn’t be an exception. This place was obviously haunted and they were very close to these intruders now, but still, none of them could see any of these ghosts or spirits.
Aggie shone her torch to every inch in this compartment and all corners. Examining the furniture and boxes, she suddenly started talking, “I guess some of this stuff is from the previous owner of this house. Those are the antiques of my father, and these are my elder brother’s toys…”
Before she could finish talking, David blurted out, “Stop moving! And don’t panic!”
A semi-translucent ghost of a little boy was riding on her shoulder and his saliva was dripping upon her head. There were at least three or four semi-transparent and faceless little ghosts riding and cuddling our famous KOL. All of them were making some giggling and shivering noises that gave people goosebumps. The one sitting on her head was chewing her long braid and his gob was pouring over her head. Another apparition was clasping her waist and licking her large-size tee, while there were two little luminous ghosts pulling and moistening her legs. Aggie seemed to have become their delicious late-night snack.
Although he knew that he had the ability to communicate with ghosts, their excruciating noise made no sense to him. Aggie always claimed that she could see ghosts, but she obviously didn’t notice any of them until he asked her to stand still. Aggie was one of the bravest girls he had ever known. However, seeing ghosts and talking to them was totally different from being circled and harassed. How could she possibly stay calm now? The young lady was like a little bird being trapped in a room, fluttering around, trying to shake off the little ghosts attached to her.
“Help me get those things off now!” She yelled. Bewildered, He didn’t know what to do to help her as he didn’t have a physical body here. No time to think. He jumped to her, tried to grab the menaces, and hurled them off the young lady. He successfully seized the one embracing her torso and threw it away! Now David was a spirit without a physical body and so were they. Grasping the one on her head, he pulled it away from her. When the last two ghosts witnessed their buddies being attacked by a big guy, they turned away from their captive and leaped at him rapidly. She was finally free! “Run! Close the door and see you on Facebook!” David ordered sternly.
