He nodded. Lucky put an arm under Nick’s left side while I took the
right, and we half-carried him towards the house.
We ended up back in the kitchen, with Nick leaned over the sink a
second time. Ruby, looking anxious, fidgeted with the hem of her blouse.
Lucky leaned against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest and his lips
scrunched together.
“Well… that was certainly something.” Nick straightened, his face
flushed and wet. “I think we can safely say that yes, this house does have a
resident spirit, and yes, she’s not particularly fond of my presence.”
“What happened out there?” I asked.
“I tried to make contact with her. Sometimes, spirits will communicate
with me—they’ll tell me what they want or why they’re on earth or ask for
help passing over. She didn’t want any of that, though. I felt a strong
repulsion towards me. Well, more towards what I represent. She hates men.”
“Understandable if her husband chained her up,” Ruby muttered.
“I’ve been here for a couple of days now,” Lucky said. “I got a couple of
light scratches on my arm my first night here, but that’s it. She hasn’t done
anything else to me. ”
“No, because you’re highly resistant.” Nick patted his face dry with a
towel I’d passed to him. “Spirits find it easier to influence people who are
open to them—that is, people who believe in ghosts. You don’t. Not fully.
You say you do, because right now you have no alternative, but deep down,you’re just waiting for a scientific explanation that will dispel all of this
supernatural nonsense.”
Lucky lifted his eyebrows. “Huh. Maybe you should’ve been a
psychologist instead.”
“Oh, I’m not that good. I can just pick your type a mile off.” Nick
chuckled. “You’re every sceptical husband I’ve ever met. Going along with
the cleansing because the wife’s in a panic, but secretly thinking there must
be a proper reason for why they saw a pen float.” Nick indicated to a chair.
“May I?”
Ruby quickly nodded.
The spirit medium sighed as he sank into the seat. “So, yes, your natural
scepticism acts like armour… for now. The longer you stay here, the less
effective it will be. But let’s not talk about that. We have to make a choice
about what to do with your spirit.”
The three of us sank into the other seats around the kitchen table.
Nick stared at his hands for a moment before speaking. “Generally,
there are four ways to respond to a ghost. The first and easiest is to just
ignore it. Most hauntings are mild in nature—perhaps you feel a chill when
you walk into a room or get a sensation of being watched. Many families in
that situation are happy to leave the spirit as is, and they often forget it’s even
there after a while. We could try that, though I believe your particular spirit,
Shreya, is a bit too aggressive to easily ignore.”
I propped my chin up in my hands. “What’re the other options?”
“The second is to comfort a spirit and encourage it to move on to the next
life. That only really works when a ghost is ready to leave, but lingering
doubt or fear is holding it to earth. That won’t work for us. I felt no fear in
your spirit, only anger and resentment. The third method is to close the loop.”
“Sorry.” Lucky held up a hand. “Could you please explain for the normal
people in the room?”
I kicked his leg under the table.
Nick didn’t seem to notice the jibe. “A loop is a significant moment tied
to a spirit’s death. They replay it incessantly—hence the term loop . It goes
around and around without ever ending. An example might be a murder
victim running through her home to relive the seconds before the intruder
stabbed her. Or a ghost crossing a street but vanishing halfway, where they
were hit by a car in life. If you know the ghost’s loop, it’s occasionally
possible to break it. An example might be driving a car towards the ghostcrossing the road, but braking before you hit it. It changes the moment the
spirit is reliving… and because they use that moment as an anchor to earth,
they lose their tether and simply move on. Do you know Shreya’s loop, my
dear?”
“I… uh—” Ruby, flustered, looked to me.
I cleared my throat. “Ruby’s only been in the house for a couple of
weeks. I mean, I can guess her loop probably has to do with leaping from the
window, but we’ve never actually seen it.”