Haunted Part 1

I was 21 and living in Simi Valley, California: "The Safest City in America." Very laughable considering my experiences there. It seemed from my perception that the whole town was addicted to something, from gossiping to hoarding to substances. Myself included. It was one of the darkest times of my life; there was never enough drugs, stimulation, distractions, and sex. My constant mission it seemed was to numb myself from pain and overstimulate with pleasure so that I wouldn't have to face all of my wounding and trauma. I didn't want to really look at myself. I kept my wounds and flaws in shadow, and did everything I could not to shine any light on them...So it was only fitting that during this phase of my life, I would encounter dark entities and ghosts unlike I ever had before.

It was a sunny fall afternoon, and I was at my house at the time with a man I was trying to seduce into being my boyfriend, despite the fact that he was married and had a 6 month old baby. My delusions and lack of ethical behavior were obviously running high -- but not once, not even for a day, did I become any less psychic and intuitive during this time. It shocked me actually, because there was a period when it was just too painful to see. Too painful to know the truth. And I honestly didn't feel like I deserved to have my abilities and gifts.

This man knew I was psychic and asked for a card reading that afternoon, while sitting in my bedroom. I spread out the cards and had him select as many as he wished. I saw that he/we were being asked to go into nature and be outside for a bit, and that something important was waiting there. I was surprised by this, because I wanted to keep him in my room to further my seduction, but the words came right out of my mouth, despite myself.

He said he knew the perfect place; an off-road area at the back of a subdivision called the Texas Track. We hopped into his truck and drove there, all the way to the back, and came upon a chained-off dirt road with a sign that said, "No Trespassing."

I looked at him nervously.

"Don't worry. I come here all the time," he said reassuringly, as he jumped out of the truck and loosened the chain.

We made our way up a bumpy dirt road, and after several yards I could see a rather large homestead atop a hill.

"What's that?" I asked him, my eyes lighting up.

"That's the old abandoned ranch," he replied.

"We need to go there," I proclaimed, my heart suddenly beating rapidly.

We drove to the right, up a long concrete driveway that came to a roundabout in front of the ranch house. There was a pond in the center of the roundabout and a Weeping Willow next to that, whose long limbs and leaves were reflected in the water. I looked around; there was a very large and engraved front door, a little open-air tower above the front door on the roof, and a separate upstairs apartment connected to the rest of the massive one-story house. As we exited the car, a breeze came, and suddenly we were listening to a chorus of at least 50 frogs, though we couldn't see them. I felt a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

We opened the front door and entered a grand entrance beside a great room with broken tables that seemed to be used for large gatherings. Wood beams decked the ceiling, also engraved with symbols and flowers. As we went deeper into the space, we saw that some of the beams were splintered and cracked, hanging from the ceiling. Off to the right was a swinging door that led into the kitchen. We walked through, looking at all of the abandoned garbage and kitchenware on the floor and countertops. Off the kitchen was a hallway, with walk-in meat lockers and freezers, that had long since been working. It sent a chill down my spine as I walked past. Beyond that was a sitting area that looped back around to the grand entrance. We walked past old threadbare lounge chairs, and back to the center of the great room.

CLANK! went something in the kitchen.

The man and I walked back over to the swinging door that led to the kitchen and gave it a push. It wouldn't open. We tried again, and it wouldn't budge. We walked back around past the sitting area, the freezer and meat locker, and back into the kitchen to find that the door had been locked. I felt a blast of cold air behind me and turned around, to find a dead bird laying atop the counter I had just seen not a minute before. The man and I looked at each other in disbelief. He was thinking it might be time to go, but I was far too curious, and asked him if he'd be willing to stay and check things out with me.

We unlocked the kitchen door, and walked again through the great room. Then I heard something, like a whisper. Out of the corner of my eye, crouched on the floor, was a little girl with her hands over her mouth. I turned to look and could see her there in my 3rd eye.

"You should go," she whispered, muffled through her hands.

I told the man and he seemed skeptical, but intrigued. I telepathically told the little girl that we would stay and look around and not to be scared, and that I would try to help her. She was obviously terrified.

Next we walked the other direction, away from the kitchen, and came upon two separate hallways, both lined with closets, bedrooms, and bathrooms, all disheveled and full of broken and dirty things. I saw the ghosts of different naked women, hidden in shadow, in almost every closet we passed, trapped there it seemed, and I felt the icy air as we passed each one. I counted 7 total. All shook their heads, "no" as we passed by them, and seemed weak and afraid. The man with me also felt the cold air, and was starting to feel hesitant about going any further, but continued behind me as I walked on, not knowing if this was all in my mind or not.

We went out of a door in the last bedroom of the first hall, and just outside was a staircase that led up to the apartment I had seen when we pulled up. When we entered the apartment, I recognized the windows; tall and rectangular, which opened to a flat rooftop area, the little tower just a short distance away. I had dreamed of these windows and this rooftop, at least a year beforehand. I had been running from something, trying to escape in a pink flying egg pod and had landed on this very rooftop right next to one of the distinct windows. I told the man about the dream and that I was having very strong deja vu.

One of the windows was open, right next to another that had been broken. The room we were in smelled like mold and trash. We decided to go out onto the roof, perused the flat rooftop, and took a seat next to the little tower. Below the frogs were still croaking loudly, and we could see for miles across town. The sun was just setting.

"We should do a card reading," the man said.

I agreed and pulled my cards out of my bag, and started to shuffle. A few cards popped out, and as I looked at them, I immediately was flooded with images --- women and children screaming, sacrifices made on a stone block, 3 large men that were frightening the others, and rituals.

"I think some kind of cult lived here," I said nervously. "I think they did rituals and killed people. This is fucked up, man." I said, another chill rolling down my spine. "Let's ask God to help the ghosts stuck here. Let's ask for Love to fill the space."

We looked over into the little tower, and though I couldn't see anything spirit-wise inside, I felt something. I looked more closely and saw a little opening with a ladder going down....but we hadn't seen a ladder or any entrance to this tower when we entered the house just below it.

It was starting to get dark, and we made our way back through the open window, through the smelly and broken apartment, down the stairs and back inside the room, deciding that we would smoke a cigarette to ground down, and see if anything else wanted to reveal itself before we left. In retrospect, it would have been wise to have put up protective circles the instant we saw the dead bird, and to have said a few more prayers in a more serious way, but I was in some sort of trance, and wasn't thinking straight because I had barely slept the night before after yet another indulgent night of partying with my roommates.

As we sat in the dim blue light of the room, I felt another chill in the air, and a low rumbling sound. I looked up into the opening in front of us, which was a bathroom that connected to another room. I saw something moving in the ever-growing darkness before us, and saw that it was made of black energy, was dense, massive, and in the shape of a man. It was rushing right toward the man beside me. I got up and pushed him out of the way, and the black mass pushed me onto the floor, so hard that I had to find my breath. I looked over to the man and he fell to his knees a moment later.

"Dude, are you ok?" I said, trembling. "I just saw something moving towards you and it fucking pushed me."

The man began wheezing and looked up at me, his eyes changed and angry. His face contorted and he said, "We're not a cult, we're a FAMILY. God doesn't love us. There is no God, only DARKNESS."

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" I yelled.

He then got up, furious and growling, and walked out the door we had just come in through. He wrapped around the front of the house, and stopped by a short concrete wall by the pond, where the frog croaking had reached a crescendo. The man leaned against the wall, and vomited. As soon as he did, the frogs became silent. I looked at the man, and cautiously placed a hand on his back.

He looked up at me, confusion moving across his face. "What happened? How did I get out here?"

"You seriously don't remember what you just said?" I asked incredulously.

"Umm, no," he said, looking down at his vomit.

I told him quickly about what just happened, and we started running toward the truck. I stopped next to the pond because something silent called me over there. I looked down at my reflection, and instead of seeing me I saw a naked woman, dead-looking, with blue skin and long brown hair, with a cut in her lower belly. Attached was an umbilical cord and a lifeless baby. I screamed and hurried into the truck, the man stepping hard on the gas, and taking us away into the darkness...

To be continued...

Artist: Unknown