Ike Hamill - The Hunting Tree Trilogy

“Okay,” said Gary.

“Mike?” Katie asked over the radio.

“Yeah?” Mike replied.

“You’re right next to one of the open microphones,” said Katie.

“I know,” said Mike, but his face told a different story. He took a deep breath, wondering if he had just ruined his credibility with the news crew. It was important for them to believe that they were invisible, impartial observers at this investigation, and that Mike wasn’t trying to put on a show for them. Now the news people might have just heard evidence to the contrary. Mike exhaled and turned to Gary. “I think we’re done with the initial sweep. Let’s get back to the van and calibrate the instruments.”

On the stairs, Gary leaned close to Mike’s ear and spoke—“Hey, I really did feel something weird up there.”

“I know you did Gary. I believed you, but I want us to seem like completely cold, unaffected scientists until shit starts happening,” explained Mike, keeping his voice low as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

“Oh,” said Gary. “You should have told me that.”

“I didn’t expect that acting like a scientist would be a special order,” said Mike. He reached for the door and held it open for Gary. The newswoman, Leslie, waited with her producer by the van.

“Are you guys conducting an investigation here, or is this some kind of informercial to drum up business?” the producer accused Mike.

“Whoa, you’re way out of line, buddy,” said Mike.

“Am I? What was that all about then?”

“First of all,” explained Mike. “We don’t make a dime from this. Ask Bill. Second, I just want to make sure we don’t waste your time with our personal experiences. I know you’re here to see irrefutable evidence of paranormal activity, and Gary’s feelings are not measurable.”

“Just so we’re clear,” said the producer. “We’re not here to shill your future business, whether or not you happen to be charging for it right now.”

“This is not a scam, and it’s not a business. We’re conducting research. We just want to have an impartial, credible third-party here to help us document the event in case we have some success.”

“Good,” said Leslie. “That’s a good answer.”

“But,” said the producer, “we’re not going to give your name or any contact information as part of the story. We’ll identify you as a researcher and say you wanted to remain anonymous.”

“Yeah, okay,” said Mike. He figured he had pretty good odds that cases would find their way to him whether or not his name was announced.

“Let’s move forward then,” said Leslie. “We’re all on the same page.”

“Great,” said Mike. “We’re about to calibrate the instruments and then we’ll be ready to begin the tests.”

Leslie and her producer turned and walked off.

Mike watched them go before climbing into the van. Gary sat in front of the controls and mouthed a sincere “sorry” to Mike. “Thanks,” Mike whispered back.

“What are we looking at?” asked Mike.

“Cameras are five-by-five,” reported Gary, “and I already told you about the New Hampshire bias.”

“Right, I remember,” said Mike. “Any levels on the property?”

“Nope,” said Katie. “Everything is offsite. Just normal background noise.”

“Same as daylight readings?”

“Yup.”

“From everything Bill has said, that makes this an unusually quiet day,” said Mike. “Where is Bill, anyway?”

“I think he’s still going over those circuit diagrams you gave him,” said Gary.

“More power to him,” said Mike. “So what do you guys think? Are we ready?”

“Yes,” said Gary.

“Sure,” agreed Katie.

“Wonderful,” said Mike. “Remember, as soon as we start transmitting, I want everyone sharp for any kind of movement. We’re looking for any unexplained motion at all.”

“Bad idea,” said a voice from just outside the van. Mike looked and saw Bill listening in.

“What’s that?” asked Mike.

“You just told it what you want,” explained Bill. “That’s a great way to guarantee it’s not going to show you any motion. It’s kinda a contrarian. I thought I was pretty clear about that.”

“We’ll see,” said Mike. “Leslie?” he called as he got up and exited the van.

“What’s up?” Leslie asked, reappearing with her producer and cameraman in tow.

“We’re going to start the first sequence,” said Mike. “Are you guys ready?”

“Yes,” said Leslie. “You said that he’s going to announce the levels?” She pointed to Gary.

“That’s right,” said Mike.

She turned back to her crew and led them several feet away from the vans. “I think we should start here, and I’ll narrate while we hear that guy counting.”

“Excellent, Leslie. That sounds like a great idea,” said her producer. “Any time, guys,” he said, calling over his shoulder to Mike.

Mike leaned in the van and nodded to Gary.

“We’re here tonight to document a paranormal investigation taking place at this modest rural home,” Leslie explained to the unblinking camera. “These researchers were brought here by claims of unusual activity on the unfinished second floor.”

“One point zero,” Gary called out from the van.

Leslie nodded as if to acknowledge Gary’s level. “The man you hear is announcing the power being sent to a unique piece of equipment,” she spoke into her microphone. “This is a paranormal pump, if you will. Imagine that a ghost is like a flashlight whose batteries are almost completely drained, so you could just barely make out the beam. They claim that their machine acts like a fresh set of batteries, and when they power it up, we’ll be able to capture the ghosts on these cameras.”

The cameraman moved with Leslie as she crossed the yard. “This machine works by lending power to supernatural entities so they can manifest visually, or affect our physical world. The creators are scientists who wish to remain anonymous until their findings can be verified, but they’ve allowed our cameras here today to help them document this investigation.”

Mike tore himself away from the filming to check in with Gary and Katie.

“Four point three,” Gary read as Mike climbed into the van.

“Any response yet?” Mike asked Katie.

“Completely flat on the meter, but we thought we caught some movement on one of the cameras.” Katie pointed to the third monitor.

Mike configured one of the review monitors to display the camera Katie indicated and moved through the footage backwards at fast speed. Mounted on a tripod and pointed at an empty room, the video show the same unchanging scene with the occasional dust mote floating by.

Mike saw something flash by the right side of the screen. He backed the video several times and watched the movement in slow motion.

“Four point four,” announced Gary.

“What do you think it is?” asked Katie.

Mike rubbed his chin and regarded the video again—“I think maybe it’s fabric from something just off-screen. Why did we point the camera this direction anyway?” he asked Gary. “If we had gone just a tiny bit to the right, we could see the entrance to this room.”

Gary shrugged and read the next number.

“I’m gonna go reposition number three,” said Mike, placing a hand on each knee and getting ready to stand.

“That’s a little hinky,” said Gary.

“Yeah,” agreed Katie.

“But that’s the corner,” said Mike. “Or it should be. That camera is almost pointing at the same corner that Gary complained about. If there’s something there, I want to catch it. It was just a stupid mistake that we didn’t repoint the camera before.”