Ch.3 A plan to learn the truth

"Peter… I know this is going to sound insane, but…" Rick began, hesitating at first before he continued, lifting his eyes from the photo to look at his brother with a serious expression "I know her… Rosalyn Bishop… I've been seeing her in my dreams every night for months now, ever since I turned twenty one. Always the same dream and… I know it's her, that face… this face has haunted me, I've been going nuts trying figure out who she was and why I keep seeing her…"

Peter's expression went from excited to concerned, but he didn't look like his disbelieved him either "Every night? Since your birthday? That's really weird, man… you are absolutely sure the girl in your dream is Rosalyn? Look really hard at the picture, Rick, are you positive it could be her?"

Rick looked at the picture again and brought it close to his face before he sighed frustratedly and nodded as he looked up "Yes, I am completely sure it's her.... You believe me?"

Peter shrugged "Well, it's no secret I believe in the supernatural… and I know you've never been a liar or a practical joker, nor does that scared frustrated look in your eyes look faked either… I know you, Rick, I can tell you're very serious… you… do you want to put this off until we can dig more? I get it if you do, this is scary business… you know… if Rosalyn's spirit is reaching out to you… might be a good idea to get some idea of why she'd choose you in particular, like maybe we're related to the Bishops and never knew or something like that"

Rick stared his brother for a good couple minutes before he responded "Peter… thank you… thank you for believing me so readily, it means everything to me to know that I really seriously can depend on you to have my back, no matter what it is… and… I want to go tonight… I need answers, Peter and it is just going to drive me absolutely bonkers to put it off. I don't know what we'll find or if we'll find anything at all, but I have to try… Rosalyn keeps begging me for help in my dream… she's in trouble, I can feel it…"

"So this dream… tell me about it, what do you see every night?" Peter asked, pushing his plate aside as he gazed at his brother with a genuine interest.

Rick pushed aside his plate of half eaten eggs and a pensive look touched his face "I always find myself in a ballroom, it's… the lighting is really dim, it's almost difficult to see people's faces… the music is strange, almost eerie and ominous, but still beautiful… I keep hearing a voice though, it sounds like it's floating above the music and yet, it sounds muffled and echoey…"

"Kind of like trying to hear dad holler when you're diving in the pool?" Peter offered.

Rick nodded enthusiastically "Yes, exactly like that. I can make out pleas for help though… and then I see her… in the crowd of dancers, but she looks frightened and distressed… and the man she's dancing with, I can't see his face… but I just get the worst feeling from him… but as soon as I try to call out to her or try to move to help her… I wake up"

"Hm…" Peter murmured, contemplating his brother's dream "Not sure what to make of it… maybe she's stuck in the night she vanished? Perhaps something really bad went down and she's stuck in a residual loop, I've heard that can happen when a spirit underwent a traumatic death"

Rick was silent a moment before he nodded slowly "Yeah maybe… and that guy she was dancing with, you could tell she didn't want to be… I think she's trying to tell me something, but I'm not sure what it is… he could possibly have something to do with the Bishop family disappearing, but it's impossible to say how without knowing who the guy was…"

"Maybe we can find something in the mansion to identify the people you saw… you said you couldn't see the fellow's face, but maybe he had something else you could identify him with? Maybe his hair color and the style? Perhaps even his clothes? Anything could potentially be useful in this situation" Peter replied "We'll gather what information we can from the mansion tonight and then we'll go to the historical society tomorrow afternoon to see what else we can get with anything new we learn"

Rick smiled, for once feeling like he wasn't crazy "Okay, it's a plan then. What time tonight are we going? Do you have any equipment for ghost hunting? Perhaps we'll be lucky enough to get some evps"

"I have a voice recorder that should do the trick" Peter confirmed "I can ask my friend Suzie if we can swing by her place to borrow her SB7 spirit box too… and the time, hm… I think we will head out by six, so we can be there before dark and give us an easier time finding the place"

Rick gave his brother a resolute nod. Finally… he might actually get some questions answered...