ATTACHMENTS || Twin Paranormal

Stubborn as Hell (2)

It was a few days later when Maya texted to let me know that her family was on board with me coming to help. Seeing as it was a Monday, the pub would be closed, allowing me more time to figure out how to get the dark entity away from her family.

Maya

There's something I
should tell you though.

What is it?

Well, some guys who
make YouTube videos
of themselves investigating
haunted places saw
some of the reviews and
offered us money to be
allowed to investigate the pub.
My dad couldn't refuse,
we really need the money ...

I blinked, unsure of how to respond. I wasn't a hermit, I'd seen a few videos of people doing these investigations, but I'd always been a little skeptical of the evidence they captured through their devices. While I was thinking of what to reply, she texted again.

Maya

We told them we had a
medium coming to get
rid of it, and they seemed
down to meet you, but
it's completely up to you...

I couldn't help but laugh at her choice to call me a 'medium'. I'd been called many things in my lifetime, but the term wasn't something I'd use to refer to myself. It might be interesting to see one of these investigations in person, see if the evidence lines up with my own feelings, I thought to myself, making up my mind.

Okay, I'll work with them.

Yes! Thank you so much,
Eden!
I'll see you later!

I set my phone down, gathering a few more things I wanted to use to communicate and shoving them into my bag. I intended to free write, a technique I'd learned where I dulled all other sense, focusing in on whatever I could sense coming from the entity and writing whatever I felt into the sketchbook.

By the time I was all packed and ready to head towards the pub, I'd settled on a decision in terms of how I intended the night to go. Seeing as I'd never gotten rid of a negative spirit before, rather than risk just pissing it off more, I'd invite it to attach itself to me. After all, I was sure I wouldn't notice just one more negative entity and I'd gotten pretty good at blocking them out for the most part.

'No one likes you because you're crazy, Eden.' A voice halfway between a gravelly whisper and a hiss swept through my mind, causing me to roll my eyes. While many of the spirits I'd found myself saddled with over the years were classic, angry poltergeists, I'd also collected a few wallowing in their own self-pity and grief. It seemed that I attracted any manner of negative emotion, not necessarily the darkest and most evil ones.

'You're worthless, and you deserve what everyone says about you.' I couldn't always hear the spirits around me, and it was even more rare that one decided to show itself to me. Most of the time I could just pinpoint where the energy felt different in the room and experience emotions that weren't usually my own. Whenever I did hear them speak, however, it was usually with lovely words of encouragement like this.

John, a crotchety old man who'd died alone after his wife had left him when she caught him cheating, was standing next to my old record player that sat on the end table beside the couch. I'd bought it at my favourite antique shop, disappointed that I'd brought John home with it. It had been the last gift he'd received from his wife when he'd been alive, choosing to attach himself to it in death. While I couldn't see him, I'd become accustomed to his grief and regret masked behind bitter anger and knew he'd be standing in his usual spot.