Then there was smoke. Or something like it. Matt let the feed play at normal speed so he could check it closely. Then he played it again at twice the speed. His brows knotted.
It wasn’t smoke. It did not behave like smoke. It appeared in different places, captured in different angles but they did not move like smoke would. Even the cloud of smoke that appeared in one area moved in several different directions, splitting into thinner veins.
Fog?
He discarded the notion. It was not thick enough and this place was never foggy. It was also high enough that if it were a fog bank, it would have covered the ground and hidden the tree trunks. The feed buzzed out.
Matt almost jumped out of his chair as the sudden, jarring change in the video changed from normal picture to white noise, then to black. It buzzed out several times, changing from black to white to gray then settled on white. He was not prepared for it. Matt played the video at twic
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The House By The River: A Paranormal Horror Novel Chapter 28
Just as he was about to go back to the chair near the door where the table with the laptop was, Matt heard shuffling from upstairs. Looking out the window, he noted the sun was already starting its ascent in earnest, the angle of its rays less steep than when he last peeked. Listening, he noted that it was the children who were moving about. He knew Emmy would not be able to go to sleep again, at least not soon, but noted the lack of her voice in the argument upstairs.At least they didn’t wake up when it was happening, he thought.That brought a smile to his face, albeit a short one. Reaching the chair, he noticed something strange on the monitor. It looked to him like the screen was glitching. He sat down and leaned forward to inspect what it was. It was not the screen. It was the video.Having dismissed the artefacts as dust and hardware limitation, Matt stood up where he sat relieved. The video was now playing the parts where the hazy appariti
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The very first thing Matt did after showering was to call his phone provider. He wanted to know more about the coverage of his plan and options for upgrading. The rep on the line who spoke broken English was just too happy to help. Matt ended up upgrading to unlimited everything – calls, texts, and interned. It cost him an additional hundred and ten dollars plus taxes and a renewed contract good for two years.He was also, apparently, getting a new phone in the mail because of the upgrade. All free, with a new number, and with basic plan of two hundred and fifty minutes, a hundred text messages, and a gigabyte of data a month. When he asked if he could change numbers from the phone he had to the one that was coming, he was asked to call back to do the transaction once he had the phone with him.During the course of the call, Matt was almost ready to drop the line and call again because of the rep. Not only did he have trouble understanding the rep, the rep also k
The House By The River: A Paranormal Horror Novel Chapter 30
The large paper cup of coffee with two extra shots of espresso was still too hot despite having sat on his table for ten minutes. Cain decided to take the lid off while he waited. Both Jon and the college kid whose name he kept escaping him were late. He didn’t mind.He picked the later part of the afternoon to do the meeting for two reasons – because he stuck to a schedule and got work done in the mornings, and because it was not as hot later in the afternoon.Was it Jemaine? Jermain?Taking the cup, he tried to sip again. It was still too hot. He took a quick look around and noticed there weren’t a lot of people in the street. There was not that many customers inside the coffee shop either. He marveled at this briefly. Coffee shops had become like a statement, like a ticket to being cool, in the last ten years. Every time he went out or traveled, the only establishments that had more people in it at any given time other than fast foo
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“Fuck!” Jon cursed when one of his recorders fell onto the floorboard.It fell when he braked as someone cut him off the freeway. Jon was already running late. He was never late. Well, mostly. He’d been looking forward to this day. It took ages to convince Cain to do the interview. He was looking forward to it so much that he forgot to charge some of his batteries.He did not need to be present. The college dude could have interviewed them separately. Cain declined. If he was not there, Cain was not going either. In a way, this made him feel appreciated. But only a little.Cain didn’t like to be around other people too much. He likes people, Cain once told him, but only in short bursts. He didn’t like to be called it but Cain was an empath. The only one he’s met personally and, from the number of articles and forum lurking Jon has done about the subject since, a very accomplished one, to a high degree.It's like a d
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Matt was snoring loudly when she woke up from her nap. Emmy sat up from the sofa and looked around. Matt’s arms were draped over the armrest and backrest. His head was thrown back and his mouth was open. Emmy felt relieved to see Jean also sleeping on the other end of the sofa. Gina was not there.Emmy called out to her. She received no answer. She called again while walking towards the stairs. Still no answer. Emmy kept silent for a while to listen to any sound that might betray where her eldest daughter was but did not hear anything. Then, she remembered what Matt said.Emmy, after giving the kitchen a quick sweep, headed for the porch. Matt promised to let her use the laptop if she helped with the chores, she could only be on the porch.“There you are! Honey I’ve been calling, why didn’t you answer?Gina did not stir. Her face was glued to the screen while she typed.“Gina?” Emmy called again, putting a hand o
The House By The River: A Paranormal Horror Novel Chapter 33
When he woke up from his nap, Matt noticed that the sun’s rays were already at a steep angle. Already, the areas outside the house that he could see, looked like it was lit by an incandescent bulb. Evening would come soon.Sleepily, Matt turned his gaze to his right to check on Jean. She was still napping. He got up and stretched. He turned to see if Emmy was still asleep. The sounds of activity coming from the kitchen stopped him from looking back. With Jean napping and Gina who would not be caught dead doing chores, Matt reasoned it was his wife who was in the kitchen.Without looking where Emmy was, and remembering that his phone was being used as a tether to share internet to the laptop, Matt walked towards the door. He worried that his phone was now overcharged. He’d heard it was not good for the battery. Matt found Jenna still in front of the laptop, typing away.“Hon, I think that’s enough for now. My phone might blow up if we don&
The House By The River: A Paranormal Horror Novel Chapter 34
The interview took more than three hours. Jon Purdy loved every minute of it. He inwardly delighted on the new things he learned about the cases that Cain spoke about. He was already thinking about sections he could cut and make into videos to put up in his channel.The interview began with him, and Jon was just to happy to give out details. Unlike Cain, he was some sort of a public figure now, at least in the paranormal community, so he didn’t skimp on details. As he spoke about his experiences and the reasons he became involved in the field, Jon felt more and more at ease with their bubbly interviewer.He was, by no means, an amateur interviewer but Jayren, she had a knack for it. Jon would always smile when he caught it. Her questions encouraged him to digress just far enough for him to remember details he had not thought about in a long time.When it was Cain’s turn, Jon could not hold back his delight. It was a treasure trove of historical infor
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Matt didn’t mention it to Emmy while they were eating but he was starting to feel lightheaded. By the time dinner was ending, he could not cope up with it anymore that he hurriedly finished his meal, and excused himself by mentioning that trash needed to be taken out.He'd been itching for a smoke for hours, he just could not leave his family. The path seemed to shake with every step he took but he stubbornly made his way out, trash in hand.He found his kids still at the table when he came back, exchanging opinions about a certain young singer. He remembered the videos they used to watch. The boy badly needed a haircut. He smiled at the sight. He gargled at the sink while washing his hands then proceeded to head to the living room to sit in from of the TV, pretending to watch.His focus waned. He could barely keep his eyes open. Even the highly negative prime time news could not hold his attention. He was aware he was seated, but he felt like he was float
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