Page 14 of Spellbinding Spirit

Nothing.

The attic settles into silence once more. Dust is swirling in the light of my torch. I shift on the mattress, trying to shake the eerie feeling creeping over me. This is just an attic. I don’t believe in ghosts. I don’t.

“Sebastian,” Cat whispers suddenly, her voice tight.

I follow her gaze and feel my stomach drop. The EMF meter is lighting up, its green light flashing erratically. It’s not subtle or faint; it’s unmistakable, like someone’s waving a magnet in front of it.

Cat leans forward, her breath quickening. “Sally, are you trying to talk to us?”

The light flickers once. I glance at Cat, whose eyes are wide but determined. She leans closer to the equipment and adjusts the recorder.

“Sally,” she says softly, “can you tell us what happened to you? We want to help.”

There’s nothing for a long moment the room feels oppressively quiet. And then from somewhere behind us, faint but clear as day, comes a single word.

“Here.”

It’s a woman’s voice, soft, breathy, but undeniably there. My heart slams into my ribs as I spin around but there’s no one there. Just shadows beneath the window.

Cat clutches my arm, her nails digging into my jacket. “Did you hear that?”

I nod, my mouth dry. “Yeah. Yeah, I heard it.”

“Switch off the torch,” Cat whispers. It takes a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to the complete darkness again. My other senses take over. I can smell the subtle sweetness of Cat next to me and the musky odour of the attic appears stronger.

We both sit frozen, staring into the dark and waiting for something else to happen. But the room has gone quiet again as if it’s spent all its energy on that one word.

Cat lets out a shaky breath, her grip on my arm loosening. “She’s here,” she whispers, more to herself than to me.

I don’t know what to say. For the first time I don’t have a sarcastic comment or a logical explanation. All I know is that my pulse is racing and the scepticism I’ve held onto so tightly feels a lot less certain now.

We sit still for what feels forever but there’s no further activity. My pulse is steadying now, though I can’t seem to tear my eyes away from the empty corner of the room. Cat sits back, her breathing shallow, one hand resting lightly on the recorder.

"Give me some light please.” She holds out the torch I dropped onto the mattress next to us before reaching into her bag and pulling out the letters we’d read earlier.

“What are you doing?” I ask, my voice lower than intended. It feels like we’re intruding on something fragile, and I don’t want to break it.

“George,” she says, smoothing out the paper of the topmost letter in the beam of my torch. “I’m going to read this to her. Maybe it’ll help.”

I watch her unfold the letter with trembling hands. She looks brave but I can see the tension in her shoulders and the way shekeeps glancing into the shadows like she expects something to step out.

She clears her throat and begins, her voice soft but steady.

“Dear Sally, things have gotten worse here. The air’s been thick with this awful yellow fog the last few days...”

I sit quietly, letting her voice fill the room. The words feel heavier now than they did earlier, like they carry more weight up here where Sally might actually be listening. When Cat finishes she looks up at me, her eyes questioning.

“Do you think she heard that?”

I don’t know what to say. The rational part of me wants to laugh it off and tell her this is ridiculous, but the part of me that heard that voice and saw the motion detector move can’t bring itself to argue.

Cat sets the letter down carefully with a firm expression. “Sally,” she says, her voice calm and clear, “I’m going to ask you some questions. If you’re still here with us can you knock twice?”

We both wait, the silence in the attic stretching unbearably thin. For a moment I think it’s over and nothing else will happen, but then there’s a sharpknock knock. Two distinct knocks.

Cat’s eyes widen and she exhales slowly. “Thank you, Sally,” she says, her voice trembling slightly. “Are you still waiting for George?”

The response comes almost instantly:knock knock. Two knocks. Yes.

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