Joshua_Dyer_author

A Paranormal Excursion in Four Acts.
 
It should have been a simple field experiment. Go in, prove I can do what I claim, and walk out with the cash. If they could see what I see. Feel the helplessness I do when something else takes over. I’ll bet they’re not kept awake at night by the voices in this place. They don’t see the darkness with eyes that follows us all around this estate as we gather proof. This money was going to help my little sister with her surgery. Good intentions and the road to Hell.

Restless - the Horror Novel

Patty and Dr. Benson check Donna over in a frantic parental panic. 


Patty: "Are you sure that you're okay?"


Donna sighs. "I'm fine. Just – shaken up."


The good doctor shines a light into her eyes. "What happened? What did you see?"


She shoves his irritating instrument away. "I didn't actually see anything. I – we all, were thrown out."


"On our backs," I add. Wanted to leave that bit out, didn't you?


"There were two entities," Emily says. "An older woman and another form."


She connects the cam's USB to the laptop and recalls her footage. "See there?" Her little index finger points to the black figure standing next to the bench. 


Doug leans in for a closer look. "Henry?" His head shakes as he eases back in defeat. "Hard to tell from that."


Dr. Benson: "You say you were thrown across the floor on your backs?" 


I nod. "Took the breath out of me and slammed me head first into the wall in the hallway."


Doc appears upset by this. Did you seriously think your cardigan was going to shield you from this mess? 


Dylan groans and taps Doug on the shoulder. "What did you guys find?"


Doug: "Oh, man! You've gotta hear this stuff."


He retrieves his slender recorder from the hutch behind him and presses play: 


Hissing. Then, the gentle lapping of the water in the basement pool. Doug says, "Are you here?" Lapping waves. A faint feminine reply: "Yes." Doug sniffs. "What do you want?" His sneakers echo off the tiled floor. Again, she whispers, "Freedom." 


Jake slumps in his seat. "Sweet Jesus, man."


Dougie shrugs. "If I knew the answer to that, we'd be able to get outa here sooner."


Dylan scratches his white thinning hair and clacks on the keyboard. "Well, if that doesn't get your panties in a wad, this sure as hell will."


(Computer screen fades in, showing a split screen of two rooms in green night vision overlay.) 


RECORDED FOOTAGE: PROPERTY OF SUMMIT PARANORMAL INVESTIGATIONS. FEB. 13, 2016. 


Dylan: "On the left side is the Library. On the right is the sitting room with Jake."


Jake's mouth moves on screen, but the audio is muted. 


Dylan points out the small chandelier over the round table. "See that there?"


Twisting ribbons of alien green energy swirl around the chandelier, causing it to rattle. 


Jake: "I got a sense that something was in there with me. Shit."


The screen flickers as he shuttles the footage forward twenty minutes. "Keep your eyes on the Library."


Singular points glimmer and fade like twinkling stars. One book. Then another. 


Dylan: "Right off the damned shelf and onto the one on the far wall." 


Both chairs slowly rise from the ground followed by their matching end tables and lamps. The same guttural growl shakes both cameras on the screen. The chandelier in the sitting room rests. The furniture in the Library crashes to the floor. 


Jake wrings his mug between both hands. "What's our next play?" 


Doug's finger goes to the right side of the screen. "There. The sitting room. Tomorrow night."


Scene Five