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| The Borrowing |
The thunderclaps and lightning promised rain, and the summer heat was already cooling down. I decided that the weather was enough to keep me indoors for the rest of the evening and on into the night. Having determined this, I made my way to the central tower of the Edwardian mansion which had been my home since the days of my youth.
I sat at the large oak desk that had been in my family since long before I was born. As I understand it, the desk came with the family from Ireland, when they crossed the sea to America. I vaguely remember when my father (and my mother) sat at this desk, long ago. Father was he who emigrated from Dublin to New York and then moved to Texas. Mother was full-blood Mayan. I don't know her exact tribe, and I cannot speak her language. She spoke broken English in the home. I can't remember if she ever tried to teach me her mother tongue, but I remember hearing her speak it. She also read and spoke Spanish fluently, but English was a challenge for her.
Father was lost at sea in 2005 when his vessel, the Cleopatra, foundered somewhere off Florida. Mother departed this earth that same year. Marie, the young woman who is the head and sole member of my household staff, told me that she died of a broken heart.
I opened the book on the desk and quickly turned to the page that I had been previously reading. The book was entitled The Dreams of Alheid, and I had learned much about its origin. I had assumed that it was an English translation of an earlier Arabic work, but I had been mistaken. It had actually been written by a woman who lived during Medieval times. It was not a translation - it was an original copy, authored by a little known sorceress.
I placed the bookmark aside and began to read. The book, which was entitled (or rather subtitled) As It Pertaineth to Wraiths, Spectres, and Their Workings, contained the exact information revealed in its title. From it, I determined there are several types of spirits as well as several types of hauntings. My observations mirrored, generally, the knowledge gained by "professional ghost hunting groups."
As concerning ghosts, spirits, and their activity, I determined that there are several types of spirits as well as several types of hauntings. The first of these is an "intelligent haunting," which indicates that a spirit is aware, active, and will communicate or attempt to communicate with the living. The second type is what researchers call a "residual haunting." Typically, this involves something of a "replay" of some traumatic event that took place in the past. The "ghost" in this type of haunting does not attempt to communicate with the living, nor does it acknowledge anyone. It does not seem to be aware of its surroundings. It simply repeats something that once happened to it, long ago, like a looped playlist.
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