Ike Hamill - The Hunting Tree Trilogy

Halfway up the stairs, Mike was stopped by a noise from above. He heard a child’s giggle, reverberating in a large, open room. He slowed but didn’t completely stop and looked down the steps to Bill, who kept his expression neutral at the bottom of the stairs. Mike shrugged and continued up the steps, followed closely by Gary and Katie.

As he continued his climb, Mike noticed a significant drop in the air temperature. He couldn’t feel any wind, but he felt a pressing cold and exhaled through his mouth, but failed to see his breath.

“Chilly up here,” he said to Bill.

“No insulation,” Bill said from the foot of the stairs.

“You coming up?” asked Mike.

“Right behind you.”

When Mike’s foot hit the top step he heard a quick patter of a child’s footsteps, running away through one of the gutted rooms. The second floor looked nearly as he had expected—hollow walls made of two-by-fours, bare of any drywall. The space was lit by several work lights, clamped to studs and rafters. He stopped at the top of the stairs.

“This doesn’t even look halfway done,” said Mike.

“Yeah,” said Bill. “Contractor quit.”

“You found another one?” asked Mike.

“Not yet,” Bill replied.

“What’s that?” Katie asked, pointing through an unfinished wall to the adjacent room.

When Mike looked in the direction she pointed, he wondered how he could have missed the swinging orange cable. He stepped between the studs and approached. From the rafters, a hangman’s noose, made from a thick extension cable, swung at neck level. He circled the noose and leaned in to look at the dark stains on the lower part of the loop.

“WHAA!” Katie shrieked from the stairs. She twisted to her right and clawed at her back pocket with both hands, spinning until she dug her cell phone from her pocket and cast it to the floor. Gary leaned down to look at the phone, placing his hands on his knees and peering intently.

“I think it’s melting,” said Gary.

“It was hot!” exclaimed Katie. “It burned my ass.” She clutched at her buttocks.

“You need ice?” asked Bill.

“No,” said Katie, “it’s not that bad. I guess I was more surprised than anything else."

Katie and Mike joined Gary around the phone. Bill stayed at the top of the stairs and leaned against the wall. Gary reached forward and touched the corner of the phone.

“Yup,” he said. “That’s really hot.”

“What would make it do that?” asked Katie.

“Bad battery?” suggested Mike. “Or maybe some kind of electro-magnetic radiation." He looked up at Bill.

“Don’t look at me,” said Bill. “I don’t even have power run up here. I’ve got extension cords for the lights.”

“I don’t think you could melt the case with EMF,” said Gary. “Must be the battery. Look—it’s getting hotter every second.”

Bill rummaged around at the back of the house for a second and then approached. He held out a fire extinguisher for Gary, who took it with a question in his eyes.

“Go ahead,” said Katie. “I don’t think it’s ever going to work again anyways.”

Gary pulsed the fire extinguisher at the phone-puddle a couple of times until it looked mostly solid. They watched it for another few seconds before they were convinced that it wasn’t going to erupt in flames. Gary wiped his shoes on the back of his jeans to clean off the white dust.

“Why don’t you give us the tour?” Mike asked Bill.

“Sure thing,” said Bill.

A burst of child laughter from the far corner of the house caught Mike’s attention. He moved decisively and ducked through a couple of walls to try to see the source, but when he reached the corner he found nothing but plywood and unfinished walls.

Mike returned to the group still gathered near the phone.

“Did you see anything?” asked Gary.

Bill held up a cautionary hand.

“Hey,” Mike said to Bill, “do you think we could see that thing out in the garage.”

“Sure,” said Bill. “After you,” he said, pointing the trio towards the steps.

They marched back through the house without comment until Bill had pulled shut the garage door behind them.

“You shouldn’t have asked if he saw anything,” Bill said, pointing to Gary. “You just acknowledged that you both heard something.”

“Sorry, man,” said Gary. “I didn’t mean anything. It just slipped out.”

“That thing gets off on being noticed,” said Bill.

“Yes, we know, Bill,” said Mike. “He just slipped up, that’s all. Is there any chance we could check out the place alone for a few minutes?”

“What do you mean?” asked Bill.

“Exactly that,” explained Mike. “You jump in the car and run down to the corner store or something. Anything to get you off the property so we can understand if its power is connected to your presence.”

“That happens a lot,” said Katie, backing up Mike.

“I don’t think so,” said Bill. “What if something happens? I don’t want that responsibility.”

“We’re not going to agitate it, or even acknowledge it. Trust me, we know that lesson. We just have a couple of possibilities that we can only rule out if you’re not here,” said Mike.

“Like what?”

“Well, it could be a doppleganger. Those don’t have their own representation, they’re just a reflection of a person. It’s said that if you’re good, your doppleganger will be evil, and vice versa. But either way, it’s connected to you, and has no power without you.”

“So you’re saying that I’m haunting the second floor?” asked Bill.

“No, not at all,” said Mike. “We just have to discount the possibility that this thing is using your own energy to manifest. It won’t take long, just give us ten minutes to poke around and then we’ll decide when to come back with the full equipment.”

“I want your word that you won’t try to antagonize it,” said Bill.

“You’ve got it,” agreed Mike immediately.

“Okay then, but this is on you,” Bill crossed to the front of the garage and lifted the outside door. “I’ll be back in about fifteen minutes.”

“Thank you so much,” said Mike.

While Bill pulled the overhead door shut and then started his car, Mike talked about the type of equipment they would bring back to investigate the house. Once they heard Bill pull away, he turned to address his colleagues seriously.

“We don’t have much time. What do you think?” he asked.

“I don’t think it’s a hoax,” said Gary. “I didn’t get that vibe at all. People who try to hoax us usually go overboard with shit.”

“Maybe he’s not a very smart fake,” suggested Katie.

“You’ve really turned the corner since the phone call,” Mike noticed.

“That phone thing pisses me off. I think he had a hand in that,” she said. She glanced around the garage. “What if this place is bugged?”

“Could be, but don’t worry about it,” said Mike. “If the place is bugged then he’s definitely a fake. If he calls us out then we pull the plug.”

“So what did you think?” Katie asked Mike.

“I didn’t have any sense of foreboding or danger,” said Mike. “That swinging noose was cheesy. He could have done that a million ways. I vote for hoax. Maybe some hidden speakers in a couple of spots. He practically begged us to go provoke a response. I say we go back in and call the thing out and see what happens.”

“Let’s do it,” said Katie.

“Good,” said Mike. “Gary, how about you check around the building? Look for an accomplice or any kind of remote controls. Let us know if he comes back while we’re still in there.”

“Got it,” said Gary.

“After you,” Mike said, holding the door open for Katie. Gary headed for the door to the outside.