PARA #02 - File #003

Ghosts, specters, phantoms, spooks, poltergeists, spirits... by any name, these unearthly beings are rarely seen, but are no less real. With the passage of the Paranormal Activity Reduction Act in 2012, highly skilled facilitators, under the auspices of the United States Government, began their concerted efforts to transition all spectral beings into the afterlife in the name of compassion and humanity.

Attached to anchor points, these tortured souls are imprisoned between life and death... unable to continue to the afterlife... unable to return to their corporeal bodies. With humanity's new understanding of these ethereal beings, property owners can request assistance under PARA to rid themselves of unwanted spirits. Facilitators, working within the guidelines established by PARA, engage with the trapped souls, offering support, comfort, and closure to detach them from their anchor points and to facilitate their transition into the afterlife.

However, not all spectral beings long for release from their otherworldly prison. Some, often the most evil and malignant, seemingly delight in inflicting terror and hardship on those who can sense them. If spirits refuse to transition, PARA empowers the facilitators to forcibly transition the malevolent spirits by using the confluence to sever the connection to their anchor point.

A confluence between human and ghost is often a long and exhausting struggle. Only the bravest, most powerful facilitators dare to attempt a confluence with an apparition, for once human and spirit merge, there is no retreat... and there can be only one survivor.

These are selected transcripts from cases involving two of PARA's most powerful and decorated facilitators as they engaged in combat with evil spirits... risking their very souls to defeat the spiteful ghouls that dwell among the living.

Michelle J. Beebee; Case Manager--Southeast Region: Please state for the record your name, position, and ranking.

Caitlyn R. Daniels; Facilitator: Caitlyn Daniels... level ten facilitator.

MB: Thank you. I know you haven't had time to submit your official report, but I'd like to debrief you on the forced transition which occurred last night, 30 April 2017. But first, how are you, Facilitator Daniels?

CD: [Sarcastic] I'm great... thanks for asking.

MB: I'm sorry for what you had to endure and the fact you had no support. I truly wish there'd been another option. I can only try to understand how you must feel.

CD: [Mutters] Sorry. I don't mean to be a bitch. I'm tired, I hurt everywhere, and I just want to get some rest.

MB: I sympathize. I'll try to make this as quick and painless... sorry... as quick as possible.

CD: [Waving hand dismissively] Just get on with it.

MB: Thank you. Before we begin, I state for the record that Facilitator Daniels was the only facilitator willing to attempt the forced transition of this spirit. This apparition was one of PARAs oldest and most confounding cases. Because of the location, and the fact the apparition would only manifest in front of a lone woman, no support could be provided. The spirit was known to be sexually aggressive, and every attempt to communicate with the apparition in the past had failed due to its recalcitrant nature. Despite significant peril to herself, and lack of support, Facilitator Daniels not only agreed to engage with the apparition, but she successfully transitioned the spirit. I state on the record that I intend to nominate Facilitator Caitlyn Renee Daniels for the first Harry Price Award, the highest honor PARA can bestow, for her outstanding performance, commitment, and for embodying the very best of PARA.

CD: [Softly] Thank you.

MB: [Smiling] No... thank you. This case has been a pain in my ass since 2012. Now, thanks to you, it's not any longer, and I can finally close this godforsaken case once and for all. Now, if you're ready to begin, can you tell me what happened last night, beginning with your arrival at the anchor point?

CD: I arrived at the anchor point, The Shell motel, in Miami, Florida, April nineteenth.

MB: Were the case notes provided to you of any use at all?

CD: No, not really.

MB: That's what I suspected. I'm sorry. Unfortunately, we have very little information on this apparition, and what we do have is hearsay because neither the Miami PD nor the Dade County Sheriff's department have any record of the origin event occurring.

CD: Which is odd, considering it was a murder, and in the grand scheme of things, not that long ago.

MB: I agree, but repeated requests for the files always elicit the same response... 'We can find no case matching your request in our records.' That's why I encouraged you to speak to Mr. Krish Bhatt, so you could form your own opinions.

CD: I did speak to Bhatt, and he was willing to tell me the whole story, along with how PARA was screwing him, how because of PARA he was going to go bankrupt, how incompetent we were, etcetera.

MB: I know he's less than thrilled with us, but I'd tried to help him as much as I could. Did he have anything to say besides complaining about his treatment by PARA?

CD: Plenty. He said nobody mentioned the pool ghost when he bought the place seven years ago, but even if they had, he'd have continued with the purchase anyway because he didn't believe in ghosts.

MB: [Smiling] I remember talking to him back in late 2012 or early 2013, after a hooker went running down the road with nothing but panties on, screaming about ghosts. That was when the Miami PD referred us to him. When we reached out to him, he wanted nothing to do with us. He was convinced PARA was a coverup for some kind of government experiment on the public involving drugs in the water to produce hallucinations.

CD: [Grinning] Not the first time I've heard that theory.

MB: Think he still believes it?

CD: He didn't say anything about it to me. He told me before he bought the motel, the place was falling apart and nobody wanted to stay there because it was a hangout for hookers and druggies, and the reports of ghosts were written off as bad trips... [Smiling] or maybe government experiments. After he started refurbishing the place, and had run off all the drug dealing, people were still reporting unsettling experiences around the pool at night.

MB: It was early in 2014 when we finally got involved. I think he reached out to us in desperation, and since our services cost him nothing...

CD: He's even more desperate now, and I think he's just barely hanging on. He's been dealing with the issue by closing the pool at dusk, but he's receiving bad reviews because of the pool being closed at night, and that's costing him money. He'd sell, but because the motel isn't turning a profit, he's had no buyers. He also told me that last fall a woman ignored the closed signs, and of course, the apparition manifested. Based on Bhatt's description of the evening, I'd guess the woman is somewhere between a four and a six on the PSS. [Paranormal Sensitivity Scale] She sensed the apparition and panicked, called the cops, accused the motel of spying on her, drugging her, all kinds of stuff.

MB: [Laughing] I hadn't heard about that.

CD: He showed me the review she left. It was full of accusations of him drugging female guests with the intent of sexually molesting them. He's not happy with us and thinks we've been ignoring him for the last two years.

MB: To be honest, we have. When he finally agreed to let us attempt to help him, I dispatched three different teams, but they got nowhere. Not a lot we can do when the apparition won't manifest except to a lone woman, and as soon as it does, it begins to sexually assault her. We gave it three tries, then we moved the file to the pending list to work on other cases while waiting for something to change. Did you hear about Facilitator Donna Rodgers?

CD: The Highway Croucher transition?

MB: Yes. Until you, she was the only ten to work with the apparition. She was the second facilitator assigned to the case. She had to fight him off, and she swore she'd quit before she entered the anchor point again. That was in late 2014. PARA had been conducting operations for, what, maybe eighteen months, and we were still learning how to best transition spirits.

CD: I wonder why she agreed to attempt a forced transition in the Highway Croucher case then, knowing what might have to be done?

MB: Have you ever met Facilitator Rodgers?

CD: No.

MB: I've worked with her a couple of times, and she's always been a bit... arrogant... about being a ten... and ambitious. Maybe she was bucking for director, or maybe she thought she could handle him, or maybe she didn't think it'd go the way it did. Who knows? She was always excellent when working with less obstinate, and aggressive, spirits. While I feel sorry for her over what happened, I never thought she was as... special... as she thought she was.

CD: Morgantown seems to think highly of her.

MB: Because what she's best at is self-promotion.

CD: You don't like her?

MB: No, I wouldn't say that. I just didn't care for her attitude. When she was chased out of the pool enclosure, she filed a complaint against me, saying I hadn't adequately prepared her. What was I supposed to do? I gave her everything I had. The first facilitator assigned to the case made zero progress because he never manifested for her.

CD: Hmmm... that sounds familiar.

MB: What?

CD: Apparently, she claimed she wasn't adequately informed of the strength of the Highway Croucher.

MB: Yeah... that sounds like Facilitator Rodgers. Nothing is ever her fault. Anyway, that has nothing to do with this case. Did Mr. Bhatt tell you anything useful regarding the apparition?

CD: No, not really, though he was able to add some additional information to the case file.

MB: Really? What?

CD: The wife and the husband's lover fought over the husband, and the wife killed both the origin and his lover. [Pause] I swear to God, some of these origin point incident's sound like the plot of a bad movie.

MB: I've been supervising this case for five years, since PARA began, and that's the first I've heard any of that. I wonder if he made it up?

CD: I wouldn't know. You know how this goes... the stories get told, and retold, and embellished over the years until nobody knows the truth of the origin incident anymore.

MB: Exactly. How, supposedly, did the wife kill the other woman?

CD: Drowning.

MB: Of course it was. How else would it be?

CD: [Smiling] He, Bhatt, said that when the wife arrived, the origin and his lover were fucking in the pool. They climbed out and confronted the wife, and while the three were arguing at the edge of the pool, the wife picked up a bottle and struck the origin on the head, causing him to fall into the pool and drown. The lover then attacked the wife for hitting the origin, and they also went into the pool, where they fought until the wife drowned the lover. Then, according to Bhatt, the wife disappeared, and the police never caught her.

MB: That sounds like pure embellishment to me.

CD: Yeah, me too, but who knows? I've seen crazier things verified.

MB: But the rest of the details of the origin were the same?

CD: More or less, yes. Bhatt didn't seem to know the origin's name because he referred to him exclusively as 'the ghost.' Bhatt believed the incident happened in the sixties, where the case file says the seventies, and he said the guy was fucking in the pool, where the case file said beside the pool. The most significant difference between the case file and Bhatt's version of the origin incident was the wife and mistress fighting, but even if that event is true, it probably has no correlation with the origin incident itself as the origin was probably already dead when the incident occurred. Mostly, he wanted to tell me how incompetent PARA is, how we're ruining him... you name it.

MB: I feel for the guy, and I tried to help him, but what was I supposed to do? We didn't know we could force transition a spirit back then, and even if we had, it wasn't until last year that the PARA guidelines were changed to allow us to attempt it. Until the guidance changed, if the spirit didn't want to transition, there was nothing we could do to force it.

CD: I know, and after engaging with the apparition, I don't think there was going to be any way to transition that asshole except by force.

MB: [Sighing] Thank you for saying that. How'd you get Mr. Bhatt to agree to clear the motel? He called me raising hell over your demand, but I told him it was the facilitator on site's call.

CD: Yeah... thanks for dropping that back into my lap. I told the guy, if he wanted the problem solved, he was going to have to do it. He finally agreed to cancel future reservations and I waited around the few days while his guests checked out. A mini vacation of sorts on PARAs dime. While I waited, I monitored the pool area. I noted nothing out of the ordinary.

MB: The spirit was a crafty one. We could never predict when it would manifest. The only common events were it had to be at night, a woman had to be in the pool enclosure alone, and there could be no other people visible from the pool area. The setup was terrible. No room had a view of the pool, and if anyone was in the parking lot... he was a no show. I never could quantify it, but I think the sexier the woman, the more likely he was to show as well.

CD: Really?

MB: I have no proof, but that's what I think. He showed up for you, and you're as sexy than anyone I've ever met... or seen. Facilitator Rodgers was a little on the plump side, even back then, but she has big breasts and knew how to present herself. Another woman he manifested for was Facilitator Mok, a beautiful Cambodian woman, but the first woman, Facilitator Guernsey... I hesitate to say she wasn't sexy, but she was into deathrock... and all that implies. Did the spirit not manifest for her because the origin wasn't into the deathrock look, or was it because his manifestations are unpredictable? It doesn't matter, but I've always wondered.

CD: It took four nights before he manifested for me.

MB: But he did manifest. Like I said, it has to be night, a woman alone at the pool, and nobody else around, but even if all those conditions are met, there was no guarantee he'd manifest. If I remember correctly, it took a couple of nights before he manifested for Facilitator Rodgers, and I think it took almost two weeks before he manifested for Facilitator Mok.

CD: What about Facilitator Guernsey? How long did she try?

MB: Between eight and nine weeks... but nothing.

CD: Is that why you asked for me? Because of the way I look?

MB: No, not at all. I was tired of Bhatt bitching at me, and because PARA was revisiting these old cases to try to resolve them with forced transitions, I reached out to Morgantown and asked for a ten to attempt one. I'd heard of you, of course, especially after the success of the Southern Horsewoman, but I didn't ask for you specifically, and I would have taken any ten willing to give it a try. Fortunately for me, you were willing to accept the assignment. Since you'd experienced a forced transition once already... well, you were there when your partner forced a transition... you seemed like the perfect choice.

CD: Thanks... I think.

MB: I'll be honest with you, Facilitator Daniels. I think it unlikely anyone else could have done what you did. To force a transition, I personally believe that not only do you have to be physically strong, which you certainly appear to be, I also believe you have to be highly powered, which I understand you are. This apparition was a nasty bastard that had already scared away one ten.

CD: Facilitator Rodgers?

MB: Yes. I'm not judging, but Facilitator Rodgers wanted nothing to do with the apparition almost from the moment he appeared. She didn't even attempt to facilitate a transition. I know it's apples and oranges, since Facilitator Mok is only a nine and didn't have to deal with the apparition actually manhandling her, but Facilitator Mok was able to hang in there for a few weeks before she'd had all she could take of him. I gave him the case tag the Drowned Rat because of her experience.

CD: Good name.

MB: I think so. It fits him.

CD: I saw in the case file what Facilitator Mok had to put up with. Her report about him always jerking off on her and making lewd remarks about fucking her gave me a pretty good idea of what to expect when he manifested.

MB: Good. I'm glad you found something in the file useful. So, once you had the motel to yourself, you engaged with the spirit?

CD: Yes, but as I said, it took four days before he manifested. The other three nights... nothing. I was going to give it a week and then check in to see if you wanted me to continue. I have to admit, I did enjoy having the whole place to myself. I worked on my tan during the day, and read by the pool at night. Miami in late April is nice. Since there was no set time for him to manifest, I gave him until two and then called it a night. I figured if he didn't show up by then, he wasn't going to, and even if he did, I was getting too tired to want to start a confluence.

MB: Completely understandable. But on the night he did manifest?

CD: He appeared about ten... beside the pool. He was on a chase, nude, on his back, his cock pointed straight up with his hands moving like he was holding someone's hips as he or she fucked him. There was no other apparition, but he clearly thought he was fucking someone.

MB: Was he fully structured?

CD: No, not at the beginning. He was insubstantial for two, maybe three minutes, but the moment he noticed me, yes, he became fully structured.

MB: That's his standard manifestation... insubstantial on arrival, moving as if he were being fucked by, we assume, a woman, given his origin. [Grinning] But who knows? Maybe his wife was so pissed off because he was fucking a guy.

CD: Doubtful.

MB: Did he attack you?

CD: When the apparition first appeared, I didn't move or make a sound. I remained on my chase and observed as he fucked his invisible partner, but it finally noticed me. It immediately stopped fucking the invisible woman and stood. I stood as well.