Part 30 (2/2)

Miller stood beside me.

”Where have the main occurrences taken place?” I was asked.

The three men were waiting for me to guide them to the hallway of flickering lights, the master bedroom that had been invaded, the living room that was now the living room of Valley Vista-just a brief intake of breath as I glimpsed the dark green s.h.a.g that was still growing, and then I had to turn away.

Miller was studying the office door, unhinged, gnawed on.

”Yeah,” I said. ”It happened.”

While Dale and Sam began setting up equipment throughout the house, I showed Miller the video attachment I had received.

I couldn't look at it so I wandered. Upstairs I peered into Robby's and Sarah's rooms and then (delicately-I did not go in) the master bedroom.

The unmade beds in all three rooms relieved me.

There was no sign of the Terby anywhere, but that didn't mean anything.

Back in my office the video was ending.

My father was staring out at us.

”Robby . . . Robby . . .”

Miller turned to me wordlessly, unimpressed.

”All electrical appliances need to be unplugged” was all he said.

”Why don't we just turn off the fuse box?” I asked.

”We'll do that as well.”

The equipment would be plugged into the generator that had been dragged into the foyer and was sitting at the bottom of the staircase.

While we began the process of unplugging anything connected to a power outlet, everyone began feeling it.

(I pretended not to.) There was a new pressure in the house.

It was weighing down on us.

I tried to ignore the moment our ears started popping.

But when Sam and Dale laughed I had to accept it.

Once everything was disconnected, Sam and Dale began plugging various cords into the generator.

The infrared video cameras and sound-activated microca.s.settes were mounted on tripods.

Sam would oversee the one placed in the upstairs hallway.

Dale would oversee the one placed in the master bedroom.

And Miller would oversee the one placed in the living room with the widest field of vision, including the foyer and the staircase.

Each of them held an electromagnetic field meter-an EMF.

All the curtains and blinds in the house were drawn shut-I did not ask why-and the interior of the house darkened considerably, but with enough light still scratching through from outside.

Once Sam and Dale were in position upstairs, Miller asked me to turn off the fuse box.

It was located in the hallway that led to the garage.

I opened it.

I breathed in as I shut off the power.

Walking quickly back to Miller's side, I realized that this was the quietest the house had ever been.

During this thought all three EMF meters started beeping-instantly, in unison.

According to the flas.h.i.+ng red digital numbers I saw a reading jump from 0 to 100 in what seemed like less than a second.

Immediately the cameras sensed something and started whirring, moving in a continuous circular motion atop the tripods.

”We have liftoff,” I heard one of the guys whoop from upstairs.

The beeping suddenly became more insistent.

The cameras kept flas.h.i.+ng as they turned.

The locks on the French windows in the living room made a cracking sound.

Another cracking sound and the windows swung outward, causing the green curtains to start billowing even though it was a cold, still November afternoon.

But then they stopped billowing.

The curtains weren't there last night, the writer said. the writer said. Don't you recognize them? Don't you recognize them? the writer asked. the writer asked. Think back. Think back.

Air gusted over us, and the faint sound of something being pounded echoed throughout the house.

The pounding continued.

It was moving through the walls and then into the ceiling above us.

The pounding was competing with the sounds from the EMFs but the pounding soon overtook it.

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