Unseen Eyes

5 — Unseen Eyes

As Jessica walks home, her thoughts keep returning to the journal. She stops and glances over her shoulder, certain that someone is staring at her. She scans the street, but nothing seems out of the ordinary. The only people in sight are walking their dog about half a block away.

“Snap out of it. It’s just your imagination,” she tells herself.

The sensation returns several times before she reaches William’s house. Each time she looks around, she finds no one watching her.

The pizza driver is just pulling away when she arrives. Jessica knocks, then opens the door. William’s dad always says, “If it’s open, come in. If I don’t want visitors, I’ll lock the door.”

“They’re all out back,” Mr. Rogers tells her.

“Thanks, Mr. Rogers.” She heads through the back door.

“You’d better hurry before Jacob eats it all!” Matthew calls from the yard.

Jessica approaches the table where William is sitting, her eyes lowered as she thinks about the missing journal.

“You look troubled, Jess. What’s bothering you?” William asks.

“Nothing. I just have this strange feeling that I’m being watched everywhere I go. I’ve had it all day, ever since we left the house.”

“Maybe one of your neighbours was checking you out. You do look pretty hot today.”

“Grow up, William.” Jessica gives him a look. “And I don’t mean since I left my house. I mean since we left the Anderson house after seeing the ghost.”

“You’ve got to learn to be more specific.” He gestures towards the pizza. “Sit down and eat before it gets cold.”

“All right. I am pretty hungry.”

The younger members seem to enjoy the break more than the analysis. As soon as they finish eating, they leave the table to play around in the backyard. Before long, only William and Jessica remain seated.

William studies her. “Hey, are you sure you’re all right?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just don’t understand what could have happened to that journal.”

“Well, you did manage to get quite a bit of information from the pages you read.”

“True, but it feels as though someone was waiting for me to leave it alone so they could grab it. I even felt eyes on me while I was at city hall.” She pauses. “So, did you guys come up with anything?”

“At first, every little thing was being called a ghost, so I gave everyone a crash course in analysis.”

“How did that go?”

“Pretty well. We went a good hour without anyone asking me if something was a ghost. They started asking each other to look at things and work out what they could reasonably be.”

“Sounds like they’re learning quickly. But did you find anything?”

“Other than some mumbled voices…” William pauses, then smiles. “Oh, and I did find something on my video camera.”

Jessica slaps his arm. “And when were you planning to tell me?”

“That’s just it. I don’t know what it is yet. There’s a bright area moving through part of the video, but I need to analyse it more carefully. It can’t be the sun, because it appears after we see the apparition.” He leans forward. “I found some free software online that lets me extract still images from a video. Once I’ve done that, I should be able to look at it more closely. I’m also searching for an audio editor that might help amplify those voices.”

“That would be great. Let me know how it goes.” Jessica hesitates. “Did anything show up on my video?”

William’s expression changes. “About that. Matthew was pretty upset when he realised your camera was already recording before you saw the apparition. When you turned to film it, you actually switched the camera off instead of on.”

Jessica’s shoulders sink. “That’s really depressing. I was so sure I’d finally caught something on tape that I could show other people. Something that would make them stop saying I’m crazy or wasting my time.”

“I hear you. But I’m sure we’ll get another chance.”

“I sure hope so.” She looks towards the house. “Should we get back to it?”

“Sounds good.” William stands. “Come on, guys. Let’s go back inside.”

Everyone returns to the places they occupied before the break. As Jessica approaches the table, Sarah calls her over.

“You should hear this. We caught it in the sitting room.”

Jessica puts on the headphones and listens. A man’s voice seems to say either “It’s mine, don’t take” or “It’s wise to shake.” She plays it again, but the words remain unclear.

“What do you think he’s saying?” Jessica asks Sarah.

“It sounds like ‘It’s mine, don’t break’ to me.” Sarah glances at Alexis. “She heard something different.”

“‘There’s wine in the case,’” Alexis says. “That’s what it sounds like to me.”

Jessica listens once more. She hopes William finds software that will help them distinguish the words.

Jacob and Samantha are whispering to each other when Samantha looks up. “Did you find out anything about the old house?”

The room falls silent. Everyone turns towards Jessica, waiting for her answer. Suddenly feeling on the spot, she begins with the documents at city hall. They are already gathered together when she arrives, as though someone else has been researching the same property. She tells the group about the newspaper article describing Mr. Anderson’s death overseas while rescuing people from a bus that went into a river. Then she explains what she managed to read in the journal before it disappeared.

When she finishes, Matthew scratches his head. “That’s just too weird. What are the odds of someone researching the same property at exactly the same time as us? And how did nobody see who took the notebook?”

William looks at the time. “Well, guys, it’s getting late. Maybe we should continue tomorrow.”

“Sounds great,” Sarah says. “If I don’t get home soon, my parents will flip.”

The others agree. William walks them to the door, says goodnight and closes it behind them. Outside, Jessica pauses on the sidewalk and looks around.

“What’s wrong?” Jacob asks.

“Nothing. I’ve just had this strange feeling that someone’s been watching me all day. Weird, huh?”

Jessica lives only a few streets away, so she walks with the others who are heading in the same direction. When they reach her house, she says goodnight and goes inside.

“Did you find any proof yet,” her mother asks sarcastically, “or are the ghosts still hiding from you?”

Her father chuckles.

“Very funny, Mom.”

Jessica’s parents believe in an afterlife because of their religious faith, but they are less certain about ghosts roaming the earth.

“Do you have any homework?” her mother asks.

“I finished it at school on Friday. They gave us the last class as a study period.”

Jessica heads upstairs. As she passes her bedroom window, she catches sight of someone standing outside, visible through the curtain. She pulls the curtain open, but the figure is gone.

She lies on her bed and replays the day in her mind: the decision to visit the old Anderson house, their search from room to room, the apparition and everything that happened at the archive building. She cannot shake the feeling that she has missed something. Still turning the events over in her mind, she eventually falls asleep.

Meanwhile, Matthew walks Alexis home, even though her house is past his own.

“Thanks for walking me home,” she says.

“My pleasure.” Matthew looks at her and decides this might be the moment to tell her how he feels. “I was wondering—”

“Time to come inside, Lexis!” her mother calls from the doorway.

“I’m coming, Mom!” Alexis smiles at Matthew. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Matt.”

He smiles back. “Goodnight.”

As she walks up the sidewalk towards her door, he turns to watch her go. “She called me Matt,” he murmurs. “Maybe that’s a sign she’s starting to feel more comfortable around me.”

He heads home with a spring in his step.

By now, everyone else has made it home safely. As they lie in bed, most of the group wonder what they actually saw in the Anderson house. Jacob, however, is still thinking about what he missed.

Next time, I’m not going with Matthew, he thinks angrily. He always misses everything.

Back at William’s house, William tells his dad he is heading down to the basement.

“Don’t stay up too late,” his father warns. “It’s a school night, and I’ll need to wake you a little earlier because I have a job out of town.”

“I won’t, Pops.” William heads for the recreation room.

He connects his MP3 player to a computer and puts together a playlist, choosing songs by the Harlots, Mindstorm, Iron Maiden and a few other groups. He docks the player in the stereo and selects random play. As he sits down with his video camera, “I’m Afraid of Mice” by the Harlots begins to play. His brother, who is away at college, has had a strong influence on his musical tastes, which are different from those of most kids his age.

William starts converting the section of video showing the glowing mass moving across the floor into still photographs. While the software runs, he searches the internet for an audio editor. After browsing several sites offering ways to create MP3 files, he finds a free program that can clean up and enhance audio recordings. He downloads it, then returns to the video images.

The first few photographs show nothing unusual. As he works through the folder, however, he notices a light beginning to move across the frame. He returns to the first image in which it appears and tries to enhance that area. Adjusting the brightness and contrast, he can just make out something resembling the outline of a hand or foot, though the image remains indistinct.

He decides to try viewing the negative.

The moment he does, he sees what appears to be the clear outline of a man with a handlebar moustache.

William stares at the screen, hardly believing his eyes. He saves the image and checks the negatives of the other photographs, but none is as clear. He transfers the best image to his smartphone and sends it to Jessica.

The audio software has finished downloading, so he installs it on the other computer and decides to tackle the recordings the following day. Finally, he turns out the lights and heads to bed.