Chapter51 More than One

Professor Rhyies noticed Cindy was quiet during the entire meal. After dinner, Sheriff Faulkner and Deputy Hopkins left to check on the status of the State Police's investigation and the autopsy findings; if any yet. Beth and Martin went to watch TV with Anna in the living room. Cindy went out to sit on the back porch. Professor Rhyies shortly followed; to see if he could find out what's troubling her. "Excuse me, Ms. Lidestrom; would you mind a little company from an old man?" "Stop that…you're not that old, Professor. Sure; have a seat." Cindy pats her hand beside her on the porch. The professor sits down, takes off his glasses and wipes them off. "What's the matter, Professor?" "Excuse me?" "Professor, if there's one thing I've come to realize about you; whenever something's bothering you, you'll clean your glasses. So, what's wrong?" "Well, I certainly can't argue with that astute observation on your part regarding my actions when troubled; but, this time Ms. Lidestrom, they actually do need cleaning. However, I'm curious. I noticed you were very quiet this evening…and, as it turns out…I was actually going to ask you what was wrong. Now; what's on your mind, Ms. Lidestrom?" Cindy looks down a lets out a short laugh. "Is it that obvious?" "I'm afraid so." "Professor, I'm not sure; but, I think we may be wrong." "Wrong about what, Ms. Lidestrom?" "I'm starting to think that there may be more than one spirit involved with this haunting." The professor removes his glasses again to clean; then, puts them back on. "Correct me if I'm wrong, Ms. Lidestrom; but, wasn't it you who said that you felt only one presence?" "Yes…I did. I still do." "Then, why do you believe there may be more than one?" "I don't know. I think it started the other day when we were talking about what I saw out in the woods that night." "What about it?" "I'm beginning to wonder if it actually happened." "What do you mean, Ms. Lidestrom; actually happened? Are you telling me you think you may have dreamt it?" "No. I saw it…and, I was awake. I just don't know if the rape was real or not?" "Why's that?" The professor's baffled. "Well," Cindy stands up, crosses her arms in front of her, and begins pacing back and forth, "first of all; I was wondering who was showing me that image. I don't see it serving Charles any purpose. I mean, if anything, it would only have Beth sympathize more for Chelsea. And, if it was Chelsea; then where was she? When she took Beth back to the night of the Howell's murder, she went with her. Why not be there to show me?" "Ah, but if it was her being raped, then she was there, Ms. Lidestrom. Surely you must agree with that?" "I guess. I just don't get it, Professor; it's not making any sense." "What's that?" "Why rape her in the woods; why leave the institute? It was late at night, and there were about six or seven interns there. Didn't these types of hospitals run on skeleton crews at night; so, they'd probably been staffed with about a dozen or so employees on any given night. I find it hard to believe that more than half the staff would risk leaving the facility unattended for that long. Going through the trouble…and risk…of taking a patient out of the hospital and dragging them into the woods seems like a bit of a stretch to me. What about you, Professor?" "I see your logic and reasoning behind questioning the credibility of the rape; but, what about the fact that you only sense one presence?" "I'm not sure…" Cindy briefly hesitates before continuing, "Professor; you mentioned once in a class of yours I took, that there were a few cases you heard of where they thought there were multiple spirits; but, it turned out to be only one?" "Yes." "Well; couldn't it be possible that it may be the opposite in this case?" "How so?" "What if we're thinking its only one presence; when in actuality there are multiple spirits involved? At least two; Charles…and Chelsea." The professor sits there for a moment in an apparent meditative thought; then replies, "Ms. Lidestrom; the cases I spoke of proved that it's possible for spirits to be afflicted with some type of schizophrenia. The events unfolding here are so strikingly similar in nature, that it would be hard for one to argue the fact that we are dealing with the same type of haunting . You can only sense one presence; even though there appears to be at least four personas involved. This case is demonstrating all the classic signs of a spirit being schizophrenic; albeit with the most interaction between personas that I've ever heard of. Now you're telling me that you think there's at least two spirits involved with this haunting? Can you explain how this can be?" "Actually; I have two possibilities for this, Professor?" "Ah…two spirits…two possibilities. Alright, Ms. Lidestrom; let's hear them." Cindy turns and looks towards the barn. "Right there, Professor." "Right there what?" "Our first possibility; the barn. The epicenter of this whole paranormal episode." Once again the professor cleans his glasses. "Go on." "Ever since arriving, the only thing that's remained constant…and, that I can be sure of…is that the barn's the epicenter; this place's power supply, that's feeding all the activity here. What if it's so strong that it's what I'm sensing; and, not the presences themselves?" "Meaning?" "Meaning; what if the epicenter's masking these spirits' presences? Sort of like a cloaking device. Think about it, Professor; a paranormal energy source providing a false reading as to just how many spirits are actually present and involved. That one presence that I'm picking up on…not even a spirit…but, the host itself; so powerful, that it's blinding my senses to them. Sort of like when you look directly into the sun, and then try to focus on something else….You can't; you're totally blinded from its raw power. All that you see is what looks like the sun; caused by the light that still remains burned in your vision." The professor takes a moment to ponder Cindy's first explanation; then, when he feels he's contemplated on it enough, "And, your second possibility, Ms. Lidestrom?" Cindy looks up into the night sky, placing both her hands behind her neck as she exhales, then drops her head down to look at the ground; shaking it back and forth. After finishing, she looks back at the professor with an extremely worried-looking expression on her face. "Well, Professor Rhyies; I hope that I'm either wrong about being wrong about the one presence, or right about my epicenter theory…because, I sure hope it isn't the second possibility." The professor removes his glasses, wipes them off, and then starts to put them back on his face. Cindy reaches out and stops him from putting them back on. "You may want to keep them off for now, Professor. Something tells me you may want to clean them some more." "Okay; go ahead, Ms. Lidestrom." "I was surfing the internet and came across this obscure, occult web site. It had an article about this remote sub-Saharan tribe called the Wazuzarzi, and a dilemma they faced back in the early 1950's with a demonic possession of several of their children." "I seriously doubt that we are dealing with demonic possession here, Ms. Lidestrom." "I understand that, Professor; but, here's the thing…the village high priest believed he had rid this spirit on several occasions, declaring the village free of any demonic presence…when in fact; the entity was there all along. It just pretended to be gone until it's next possession. When I researched this phenomenon further; I came across several other cases where similar circumstances were involved. They said that in each case, the reason why the presence couldn't be detected was because these entities were so evil, that they possessed the ability to trick those trying to sense them into believing that they weren't there. ‘En mala se mala'…or loosely translated…to be an evil within an evil itself; ‘In Evil of Evil Itself'. A spirit so evil…so cunningly conniving…that it isn't confined to any of our so called ‘rules' of paranormal contact." "What exactly is it you're suggesting, Ms. Lidestrom?" "I'm suggesting that if you look at what Charles did while he was alive; it would be no surprise if his spirit would be so evil that it would fall into this category. I don't think it's his presence that I'm picking up on…I believe its Chelsea's. But, Charles is definitely here too, Professor…hiding his presence from us somehow."