Something Strange In Your Neighborhood Who: Satori When: Just before Midnight Where: Cemetery Warnings: Mild language Status: Finished
Satori wandered through the gravestones, her hands trailing the rough edges as she went. She’d brought a gas lamp but hadn’t lit it, relishing the cool night air and the semi darkness around her. It was so quiet she might have been in a sensory deprivation tank. Her mind swam around that thought, that memory. The one time she’d been in one had been surreal. Like literally having left her own body and floating in the ether. She’d felt disconnected from herself in such a way that she’d started to feel wrong. Had requested to be let out earlier than planned. Her mentor, Moxtra, had been a bit disappointed. Looking back at that within the context of her conversation about Moxtra with Chiri... well Satori wasn’t impressed anymore.
She was brimming with excitement. She paused to light her lamp and read a few inscriptions on the stones, searching for a good place to settle and begin her fact finding mission. Her fingers were tingling as she finally chose a stone bench with a memorial inscription that read, “Rest forever in sweet peace. One with nature. One with God. Kylie Franco. 2016.” Gingerly she sat on the cold stone, grateful she’d worn pants though she could still feel the cold through them.
She set her back and the lamp beside her, pulling out the recorder Chiri had given her. She extinguished the light of the lamp and cleared her throat. Dramatically she closed her eyes and breathed deeply, trying to feel the night around her, breathe it in.
When she opened her eyes she flipped the switch on the recorder. “So, hey, is there anyone here?” She paused, listening even though she knew she wouldn’t hear anything until she and Chiri ran the tape through special equipment. “What is your name?” Another pause to allow for an answer if there was one. “Can you tell me why you’re still here?”
Satori shifted on the bench and knocked her lamp over with a clatter. “Shit,” she whispered and flipped off the recorder. Bending, she retrieved the lamp and as she sat back up she thought she caught movement out of the corner of her eye among the tombstones a little ways off to her left. She squinted and watched for a long moment before laughing softly to herself. “You’re an idiot, Satori. There’s no one there. This is not a horror movie.”
She flipped on the recorder again and said, “Sorry about that. Technical difficulties. Do you know anything about the dome that we don’t know?”
No, there was definitely something moving. She actually heard something metallic scrape along stone. It wasn’t even subtle. She dropped the recorder and rummaged through her bag frantically looking for her flashlight. When she finally found it and flicked it on, a dark shadow flittered away behind a large mausoleum. She was not even in the slightest bit curious about finding out what it was. She packed up her bag and was about to pick up the recorder when she heard strange, ragged breathing. She didn’t even have a chance to turn her head before sudden, sharp pain.
Everything went black.
* * *
Coming to some time later, the light filtering through the trees in pale beams of the beginning of the day, Satori rubbed her head and moaned. “Oh what the hell?” she groaned, fingers gingerly touching a bump above her left ear, her breath hissing with pain.
She looked around and gathered up her belongings, noticing that the recorder that Chiri had given her had run to the end of the tape. She wondered how many hours had been recorded. What would she hear on that recording? She pulled herself up to the bench, rewinding the tape as she sort of crawled on shaky arms and legs up onto the stone. When the tape clicked back at the beginning, she hit play. She knew it wasn’t possible to hear the EVPs if there were any but she might have some clue as to what had happened.
There she was, chattering almost playfully away with a few pauses. Then a rush of guttural breathing followed by a thunk and a soft whimper that must have been when she’d been hit on the head. After that there was nothing for a long moment and Satori was about to shut the tape off until she heard the whispering. It was soft, so soft she had to turn the recorder up to full volume and press it to hear ears, straining to hear anything above the susurration of breath. It was hard to make out anything but a few scattered sounds which were louder than the others and didn’t sound like organized speech.
Satori frowned and looked down at the recorder. She clicked it off, put everything into her bag and stood up. Maybe Chiri’s equipment for checking the tape for EVPs could come up with something more than the naked ear. She’d find out soon enough. But first, she was heading home to go to bed. Today was definitely a day to call in sick.