Paradoxical I Angels & Apparitions

Prologue

Elaina knelt before the statue of the Madonna in the Cathedral in Bucharest. She prayed reverently to the Holy Mother for release from the torment she had suffered in dreams during the past few months. They had intensified to he point where she felt the presence embracing her, whispering to her that she was his, and he was hers.

****

When she was younger, the apparition's visits were infrequent and sometimes comforting. It whispered to her that she was loved, cherished, and in her innocence she had believed it to be an angel. As she grew from an adolescent to a young woman, the presence became ominous.

Now she felt it wanted all of her, body and soul!

She looked up at the statue, her hands clasped together in prayer as she begged to forgiveness for whatever sin she had committed.

Please Mother; I have tried to be a good Catholic. I am sorry I had impure thoughts and desires, she confessed.

Elaina rested her head on the cool concrete base of the Virgin's statue. She closed her eyes remembering when she had become frightened of the presence. The dreams had started when she was a child. It seemed as though the entity had been searching for something, or someone. After her thirteenth birthday two months ago, the dreams had intensified to the point where she was afraid to sleep or to dream.

****

Elaina sobbed and recited her "Hail Mary and The Lords Prayer reverently through her confusion and tears. She screamed aloud as a hand lay upon her slim shoulder.

My child, Father Lucien exclaimed, taking an involuntary step back. What is troubling you?

Oh father you will not believe me if I tell you. You did not believe me when I told you about the angel! Now he... it wants to take me! It wants to possess me...all of me!

Father Lucien knelt besides her. It was true. He, like her parents believed her Angel was a comforting imaginary spirit Elaina had conveyed in her mind.

****

Father Lucien searched his mind and soul for the right words to comfort the girl. Her parents had thought she was an imaginable child, seeking comfort in an eminent figure. They humored her at first but when they lost their son, they grew weary of Elaina's insistence that she conversed with an angel. They told her that it was time to let go of childish notions and Father Lucien had agreed with them.

Elaina had been astounded. She had not been making this up! The angel... or demon as she recently began to think of it, had become an ominous entity. Now she had no allies, no one she could turn to for help, so she had come to pray to the Mother for spiritual guidance.

****

Father Lucien stood, holding Elaina's arm and helping her up to stand beside him.

My child you have been under duress since the death of your brother. Please let me hear your confessions and offer prayers in solace. A cleansing of heart and soul will rid you of afflictions. Elaina allowed the priest to lead her to the confessional. She sat down on the wooden bench and waited for him to pull back the small-latticed window to hear her confession.

She told him everything. She told him about the presence, and the desires it provoked in her while frightening her with its aggressive pursuit. Father Lucien took a deep breath before answering her and giving her penance.

Child it is a hard time for you, and for your family. The transformation from adolescence to puberty is hard for all young people, especially young women. However, you must suppress these feelings until you are of an age to deal with them. It is normal...what you are experiencing. Prayers and faith are what you need now. I want you to say the rosary twice. You will be cleansed of these feelings and you won't be bothered by unseen spirits any longer!

He blessed the girl and Elaina knelt before the altar to pray. Father Lucien smiled to himself. The girl was not mad or possessed, she was dealing with grief and growing into womanhood, with desires stronger than most. He looked towards Elaina, a small frown replacing his smile. What was that shadow, that dark mass surrounding her? Was it a trick of the lights, the flickering of the candles, or something...yes, there was something there, engulfing her in its mass!

****

Father Lucien started towards the girl. A small breeze had started in the sanctuary and intensified as the priest paused, looking around for the cause of the swirling mass of air.

Father, Elaina screamed, bringing his attention back to her. Please...please help me, she cried as darkness surrounded her, obscuring her from his sight.

Child, he called, not believing what he was seeing. Just then, the lights went off and the candles blew out, leaving the church in complete darkness.

Elaina, Father Lucien called. Are you all right? The girl did not answer and while Lucien was stumbling towards the girl in the blackness, the lights came back on.

Elaina, he called again, thinking she must have hidden herself in fright. He strode over to the place where the girl had been kneeling. Her rosary lay on the step. Pamphlets from the church pews lay against the rectory walls in a heap. He detected a strange electric magnetic force in the air.

Father..., he heard her faint cry to him as though she where calling from a deep cave or tunnel.

Elaina...where are you? Come out now child.... Elaina? She did not answer. Instead, he heard the sound of air swirling, as if by some sort of vacuum or vortex!

The priest searched the Church, the rectory, and then circled back to the altar where he had last seen the girl.

Father Lucien turned and looked in bewilderment at the statue of the Madonna. He spread his arms out in a helpless manor, beseeching the Mother silently for an explanation of what he had just witnessed. The only answer he received was a deafening silence!

1. Paranormal Investigators

* Also known as ghost hunters who investigate Fortean phenomena pertaining to unexplained occurrences.*

Derek Marshall threw down his earphones in disgust.

Nothing, he spat at Emma and Mark! This is another bust...another waste of time! Emma did not look up from her monitor but Mark shook his head in exasperation.

We've only been here for seventeen hours man, chill out! Dr. Highland is resting in the next room, so keep your voice down!

Why...at least there'd be some noise to record! I'm starving, are there any sandwiches left?

I think there's half of tuna and a whole liverwurst, Emma answered not looking up at him. She was focusing on the electromagnetic field detector, ignoring his grumblings about the meager food supply. Mark Ayers did not acknowledge Derek's complaints. His eyes remained glued to the readout sensor of the panoptic camera.

The spectral detector was the latest TVL infrared surveillance equipment with a built in IS, an illuminating system. Mark watched for visual, Emma Foster monitored the temperature and magnetic sensors and Derek's job was to monitor and record audio sounds on the ES, the energy speaker.

Dr. Brenda Highland was head of Parapsychology at Douglas University, and she had formed the paranormal investigation team with three of her brightest graduate students.

****

Brenda woke with a start. Had they discovered something while she was sleeping? She rose quickly from the sofa where she had laid down telling her colleagues that she was resting her eyes for a few minutes. The few minutes had turned into more than an hour and she hurried into the room where they had their equipment set up and their surveillances in order!

I'm sorry...I didn't mean to sleep that long. Anything yet, she asked Emma while peering over Mark's shoulder at the camera?

Not yet. I thought I detected a slight decrease in temperature but it was so slight, it could have been air draft, or even an instrument glitch, Emma replied.

You haven't seen anything either, Dr. Highland asked Mark?

Nothing Doc...Derek hasn't picked up any thing on the audio either, Mark responded!

Where is Derek, Brenda asked, nodding at his station.

I'm right here, Derek said coming into the room. Hey Doc can we order a pizza or something? I'm starving and there isn't anything going on here anyway. Brenda let out a sigh.

I brought sandwiches, fruit, soda, and three thermoses of coffee. Is everything gone?

I just finished up the tuna and I even ate the liverwurst. I could go pick up some pizza and get a few other things in town, Derek said hopefully.

The town is thirty two miles from here. Its eleven thirty now and by the time you get there, it will be after midnight. Do you really think anything will still be open? I think we should wait until morning Derek. Besides I'm up now, and I'll monitor the audio while you get some rest, Brenda told him.

Derek was about to protest when Emma interrupted.

Shush... Derek put the audio on speaker. There has been a drop of seven degrees in the last two seconds!

The four became alert. Derek ran to the audio sensor and Emma monitored the temperature while Brenda peered at the infrared spectral camera with Mark.

It's dropped another three degrees, Emma called,

But it's leveling out now! They all looked up as the audio speaker crackled and Derek turned the volume up.

What is that noise, Mark asked, peering back at the screen trying to detect movement.

It...it sounds almost like an air conditioner engaging...but there isn't one here, is there Doc?

No and it is being picked up by the audio speakers! It sounds like it's coming from inside the walls, she answered. Brenda ran over to the wall and put her ear to it.

Oh...the wall is cold, it's almost like touching a refrigerator shelf, she stated.

The temperature dropped another five degrees, Emma told her.

Oh...oh..., Dr. Highland gasped as all three looked up in alarm.

What is it, Derek demanded rushing over to her. Brenda pulled herself away from the wall with some difficulty.

It's...like a vacuum or suction here, she said holding her hand out to Derek for support. Derek took her arm, pulling her forward while placing his hand on the wall.

I don't feel anything, he stated! Dr. Highland pressed her hand back against the wall.

Here... quickly, it's fading fast! Derek laid his hand next to hers, and... he felt a slight pull on his hand. Perhaps it was just Brenda's supplication of the occurrence.

Temperature is rising now...quickly. Seventy three, seventy four...that's where it was when we came here, Emma stated! Derek still rested his hand on the wall.

What was that, he asked, speaking directly to Brenda. Have you ever felt anything like that before? She shook her head, and then turned to Mark.

Did you see anything? Did the motion detectors pick up any movement? Mark shook his head.

No I didn't detect anything, however the infrared camcorder might have. Derek and Emma hurried over to peer at the camcorder's screen. At first, there was nothing, and then Mark pointed excitedly at the wall where Brenda had stood. They could see charged electrons and a dark mass permeated around her body and the same happened to Derek as he joined her.

****

They all stared at what had been recorded on the spectral camcorder.

Coming from the wall was a bluish mass signifying cold. Derek had placed his hand on the wall. Something dark and shaped like a branch extended towards Brenda and then disappeared at Derek's approach.

What was that, Derek asked? It looked like a cable or thick wire that the infrared picked up!

No... that was not a wire, Mark stated! It looked like some sort of appendage to me! Brenda leaned in closer.

I never saw an apparition that was that dark, and what about the vacuum I felt? Mark zoomed in and focused on the dark appendage.

That's not a wire or an appendage, Emma stated. It's an arm, and its fingers, or claws are reaching for Brenda!"

****

Mark froze the frame then magnified the image. It was true. The dark appendage seemed to be reaching towards Brenda Highland. It did look like a long thin arm and there were fingers or claw like digits extended towards her. Brenda took an involuntary step back. The other three turned to look at her.

I've seen apparitions before but nothing quite like this, she stated, shaking her head at the image. Emma turned to look at the image.

Well the drop in temperature indicates paranormal activity, right? Mark agreed.

I wonder what it was doing, or trying to do.

Dr. Highland drew in her breath.

I'm not concerned too much of what it was doing. I'm more concerned about what it wanted or whom it wanted!

2. Echoes...Echoes

Tucker Ferris captained his fishing boat with the ease and confidence of the twenty-three years of experience on the open sea. Since the age of fourteen, he had worked with his father and brother in their South Atlantic Sea shrimp business. He had inherited the boat and the business upon his father's death, eleven years ago.

His older brother Simon had been lost at sea fifteen years prior. The old man was never the same after that, and Tucker believed he blamed himself. It was grief that led to his father's demise a few years later. Tucker shook his head, clearing the dismal past from his mind. It was a beautiful day out on the open sea, the type of day that fishermen declared, a blessing from the heavens!

****

Tucker smiled, humming a little shanty as the breeze cooled his face, and the air cleared his mind. Dale Kingsley looked up from where he was checking the netting and nodded to him. He thought how lucky he was that Tucker had hired him on, and that he decided to go out today for a little extra income.

The shrimp business had expanded greatly since all the coastal regions now supplied abundant shrimp to the restaurants that offered seafood buffets. Tucker's son Ryder had worked with them over the summer, as well as two of his college friends, and they had left the previous Saturday afternoon for Florida State University. Ryder was studying marine biology, and would graduate next year. Dale thought the boy could learn more from his father, as he had been doing, however Tucker was proud of his son. Ryder had obtained a full scholarship, and with his grades, he was able to keep it throughout his five years.

Dale hoisted the netting into the drop crate, and had to smile himself. It was a beautiful day and they could already see the gulls circling an area indicating small fish or shrimp. He nodded once more at Tucker letting him know that the nets were ready for the drop. Tucker slowed the boat. The nets attached to a pulley system that hoisted the net and then lifted to the holding chamber. However, they were accustomed to working with three others. Ryder and his friends had helped guide the net to the chamber, but now he would have to let the boat idle while he helped Dale guide the pulleys.

Dale was a good worker and Tucker was glad that he had hired him, although he was a little concerned about the young man's crush on his daughter Allison. Not that he thought Dale would not be suitable for her; it was just that Dale was in his mid twenties, and Allison was still in high school.

****

Tucker shook his head slightly as he thought of his teenage daughter. She was only two when Simon had disappeared fifteen years ago. She was a firm believer in unexplained phenomena and the paranormal. She had badgered him incessantly about the dangers of the waters where he fished. She continually watched episodes about the Bermuda Triangle on the Sci-Fi and Discovery channels, and firmly believed in what most referred to as the Devil's Triangle.

Dad really...there is something wrong going on out there! Some people think it might be another dimension or a portal, or maybe even some kind of black hole! It may be even Aliens abducting people like in that movie, she had stated.

Allie, he had replied patiently. The legend of the Triangle is a manufactured mystery perpetrated by writers who made use of misconceptions. It's just been sensationalized because people love mysteries!

Then what happened to Uncle Simon, she retorted? Tucker had sat her down. This had been shortly after his father's death.

Darling I know you and Pops talked this entire over, but I told you before he was heartbroken when Simon drowned. I was there that day, and there were no holes, no aliens and no demons. One minute he was there and when Pops called out to him for help, he was gone. He must have fallen overboard and we could not find him. Pops blamed himself and he was full of the notion that something unexplained happened to his son that day! Simon drowned... that was all there was to it! There is nothing out there in the ocean that shouldn't be there, he explained to her.

****

He thought about how she had debated and tried to show him documented proof on the computer. Allie thought she knew it all. That she had the gift of insight like Pops always claimed he had. Tucker was not sure of all that, however Pops was uncanny about predicting things that might come about. Allison had the notion that she could too, even though she was only six when Pops passed away. They did not have this problem with Ryder. His wife did not like the way Allison carried on sometimes, however he thought she hoped the girl would forget this nonsense as she matured.

****

He was brought back from his recollections by the call from Dale asking him to come over.

His mate was peering over the rail of the boat, and as Tucker approached, Dale pulled back, straightening up.

What do you see Dale? We got shrimp or a school of fish?

Not sure what I'm seeing Cap, Dale answered as Tucker came over and peered into the deep blue water.

At first it did look like a school, the water churned and bubbled but neither of the men could detect any sea life. As they watched, the water started to twist, almost like a whirlpool, and they had to hang on to the side of the boat as it bucked and heaved in the motion. Dale looked towards the sky to see if there was any activity going on, but all he noticed was the lack of gulls and sea birds that had been there moments ago. He tried to draw Tucker's attention to it; however, he was still leaning over the railing, staring into the sea. Tucker leaned further, and Dale grabbed his shirt as he almost fell overboard into the swirling mass of water. He yanked him backwards, shouting his name, and they both fell into a pile on the deck of the boat.

Tuck...are you all right? Man, what were you doing, Dale asked, however when he did not hear a response, he sat up and looked at his employer. Tucker seemed to be in a daze. He stood up and went to lean over the railing again, peering into the now calm sea.

****

Dale sprang to his side, ready to grab him again, but the water had stopped churning. The sea was calm and there was no sign that anything had been amiss. Dale turned to Tucker again.

Tuck, what's the matter. Do you feel alright? Dale feared that his boss was having an attack of some kind, possibly even a stroke. Tucker peered into the still water.

Did...did you hear him, he whispered softly. Dale furrowed his eyebrows, still concerned that something physically was wrong with his Captain.

Tuck...what are you talking about? I did not hear anything. What did you hear? Tucker turned to look at his