Chapter 6

The unsettling thing about Stormy Nights is sometimes they can lay low for a while, then without any warning, zap you big-time! This one did just that. The Conference Room lit up again in a blinding light and immediately began to sizzle with electricity as another strike hit close by. To compound matters the same eerie cry we'd heard before filled our ears, minds and the Conference Room.

The lost soul cried out in the same blood-curdling scream of ultimate despair. Then another strike illuminated the room in blinding light.

As the glare dimmed we heard, "MOMMIE! Where are you?

"Mommie, it's so dark in here.

"I'm scared."

Then as before, the voice wailed even more desperately, "Mommie ... Mommie ... I need you.

"Where are you?

"Mommie, It hurts.

"It hurts so much.

"It's so RED!

"Mommie ... Mommie. Where are you?

Finally the cries faded as we heard, "Please, Mommie, I don't want to die."

Then as before, silence.

Even though my friends and I had heard this all before, hearing it again sent the same chills through us. I sensed Kim was just as unsettled. He looked around at us, mirroring our concern, then said, "Who is that poor person.

"It sounds like she's in a dreadful situation."

"We don't know," I told him. "We first heard her plea just a few moments ago."

"She's dead, isn't she?" Kim asked, his eyes moist.

Softly I told him, "I think so. Yes."

"Why was she killed?" He asked.

"We really don't know," added Tom. Then Stacey explained, "That's what we're trying to figure out."

Even though we have all been together such a short time, I just knew what Tammy our resident poltergeist was going to do. I didn't even have the time to form the complete thought or warn Tom when she replayed what I'd felt that made us know she had died.

As we all heard the chant, "Die ... Ye Witch ... Die!" Kim placed one hand over the base of his neck and tight-fisted his other over his chest as he experienced the agony I'd felt.

After her last breath was driven from her, her life force faded. Kim dropped his hands and scanned around at us. "Why did they kill her in such a brutal and cruel way."

Then he asked a question we all had wondered, "Will ... if she's calling out to you, why isn't her Spirit here?"

"We're trying to figure that one out too.

She has to have some connection with me," I explained. "But I have no idea what that is."

"Nor can the rest of us figure it out either," admitted Tammy.

My other four friends added their agreement with our predicament through their thoughts. "Although," Tammy added, "There seems to be a connection with the storm that's raging outside."

I thought, "She's right.

"Every time I've heard that cry and her plea, it has immediately followed an electrifying bolt of lightning.

"There's no indication just who it's coming from. Although I do get an impression of the young woman but don't receive anything more than a vague feeling. I can't tell where she is either."

Then Kim startled all of us with his thought. "Or WHEN she is?"

Everyone looked at each other. We had all assumed this event had happened in real time and was not a past event.

"But how can we tell?" asked Stacey.

That even had Tammy stumped but Kim sat there trying to formulate just what could be happening.

While we waited for him to finish putting together a hypothesis, without a new burst of lightning I heard, "Will. Please help me.

"It's so dark and cold.

"It hurts.

"Please help me."

I answered, "Who are you," and paused a bit. Then I added, "Where are you?" but got no reply. Just the empty silence as my friends' eyes stayed riveted on me.

I was very confused. Thoughts spun through my head. Whoever this Spirit calling out to me was, she was calling to me in real time, not from the past. She was calling directly to me and knew who I was. Yet I had no idea what my connection was to her.