"I can't believe you're gonna let strangers into your home," Katrina said as she mixed up her color. "You are gonna stay there with 'em, though, right?"

"Yes," I replied as I took a bite of food. "They said that since the activity was happening to me that it would be good if I stayed. With all that's happened, I don't know what else to do. Maybe the investigators will find out what's going on… or that I'm crazy.” Maybe I’m more like my mom than I realized. “Either way, I can't live like this," I admitted, puffing out my cheek to emphasize the still-visible scratches going down it.

"Girl, you're braver than me to still be stayin' there at all. I'd have done cut a trail long before now."

“Trust me. If I could cut a trail, I would. I wish it were that easy, but I’m rather stuck.”

It wasn't long before my next appointment was supposed to come in, so I tried to hurry and eat the rest of my lunch, thinking about the upcoming weekend. The paranormal investigators were coming Saturday night, which was just a couple of days away. I was a bit nervous to see what they might find, but excited, too. Maybe they could find out what was going on and get rid of it.

The morning that I'd had enough, cursing my new home as I drove down my street, I came to work and did some research. There were several paranormal teams in the area that did investigations for free, so I picked the one that looked the most professional and called them up. I figured I didn't have anything to lose. I also tried to look up history on my home, but my address didn't pull up anything.

The thought of having to drug myself so that I could sleep in own home was ridiculous, but if it kept me oblivious to what might be there, then just call me Junkie Jacynda. I really hope that the paranormal team can help, because if not, whatever was haunting my house would win and I'd be calling Jenn to find me a new home.

Jenn. I wonder if she knows anything about the house. Surely, she would've told me if she did. I picked up my phone and called her but got her voice-mail. I left her a message to call me before heading back out onto the floor. Even if she didn't know anything about the house, she knew who the previous owners were, and I'm sure they had some answers about the house… the house that they practically gave away.

***

Jenn didn't know anything about the house and seemed genuinely surprised that there were such strange things going on. She did have the previous owner's phone number, however, which she reluctantly gave me.

"I just want to know if they ever had anything happen or if the previous tenants said anything," I explained to her. "That's it. I just want to ask them if they know anything, which I'm sure they do. Didn't you wonder why the house was so cheap, especially when everything passed inspection?"

"Yes, but that happens sometimes. Sometimes people just need to get rid of a home for whatever reason and price it to sell."

"Exactly. And I just want to know what their reason was. I'm not going to start any trouble, I promise."

When I called the previous owners, I got their voice-mail. I left a message with my name and number, not telling them who I was or why I was calling. I tried to sound friendly, hoping they would call me back, which they did. It took them a day, but I was glad that they called at all.

"Thank you for returning my call, Mr. Jarnigan. My name is Jacynda Johnson, the person who bought your house on Persimmon Street." Silence. "Mr. Jarnigan?" I asked, thinking he'd hung up on me.

"Yes, I'm here."

"Um, as I was saying, I bought your house and there have been some strange things going on. Did you or the previous tenants ever experience anything?"

"The sale on the house is final," he informed me.

"I know that, Mr. Jarnigan, I'm not calling you to start any trouble, I just want to know if... if…." I didn't want to say it. "Mr. Jarnigan, do you believe in ghosts?"

"Can you hold on one minute?"

"Yes." I figured he was going to hang up on me, so I was surprised when he came back to the phone.

"Ms. Johnson?"

"Yes, I'm still here."

He took a deep breath. "There were things that happened in the house. My wife and I couldn't take it anymore, so we moved out and decided to rent the home so we didn't lose any money on it. We tried renting it, but no one would stay. So, we left it empty for a while before we decided to just be done with it once and for all." He took another deep breath and I could tell he didn't want to be telling me what he was telling me. "So, we put it up for sale. We priced it below market value so that we could just get rid of it. I'm sorry that you're… experiencing the same thing, but there's really nothing I can do for you."

I stopped him before he could hang up. "Wait, Mr. Jarnigan. What kind of things did you experience? Do you know what it is or know any history on the house?" Silence again. "Mr. Jarnigan?"

"We had things get moved, doors shut, things like that. And we were both touched. When my wife was attacked… that's when we moved out. I don't know much about the history of the house except that it was built in 1907 by a man named Henry Kauser. His wife did die in the home, but I don't know whatever happened to him."

I took in all he'd said, but one thing stood out. "Attacked? How was your wife attacked?"

"She was pulled out of our bed and hit her head on the corner of our nightstand. She hit it so hard that she ended up having to have stitches. Listen, I'm sorry, I've told you all that I know. I hope you... work things out."

"I do, too," I said to myself, since he'd already hung up.

***

I was surprised that nothing had happened for the past two nights. It was like whatever was here knew that someone was coming to pay them a visit. Maybe whatever was here was saving up its energy for the investigators. I sure hope so. I'd hate for them to come and do whatever it is that they are going to do and nothing at all happen; then I would look like I was crazy.

I got off work at four o'clock on Saturday and was excited, yet nervous, about the upcoming evening. Eric had wanted to come and see what all the investigators were going to do, but they had made it clear that they couldn't have a house full of people, saying it would contaminate their evidence. I promised Eric that I'd call him as soon as they left and tell him everything that happened.

"You better. And if anything major happens, call me right then; don’t wait on them to leave." It was funny how Eric was interested in what was going on at my house, but Kim wanted no part in it. She had said that she didn't even want to come over until whatever was there was gone, afraid it would follow her home. Eric told her that, "No matter if it did, once it got a look at your crazy mother, it would want the hell out of there," causing us all to laugh.

"True," she agreed. "But still, all that paranormal stuff just scares me." How did she think I felt?

The paranormal team pulled up at seven o'clock and started unloading equipment out of their trailer that had their Knoxville Paranormal logo printed on the side. As three guys took their equipment out of it, Susan, the only female on the team, showed me the inside. I was amazed at the set-up they had; they took this paranormal stuff seriously.

Good. So did I, now that I was living it.

"This is where we monitor all the cameras and listen to what's going on," she explained. "We will set up IR cameras in the hot spots where you've experienced the most activity." She started sticking cables through a slot that was cut into the end of the trailer. "So, what kind of activity have you had here?"

"Well, I've only lived here for about a week or so, but things started happening the very first night I was here." I told her about feeling the fingers in my hair and how my bedroom door kept opening and closing on its own. "It also felt like someone was touching my leg the other night while I was in my bed, and I also woke up with bruises on my legs and scratches on my face."

She nodded her head, acting like what had happened was no big deal. "So, you have been touched and scratched?" I nodded. "Have you seen anything? Any type of shadows or apparitions?"

"No, thank goodness. That would just be too much," I laughed nervously. "I do know someone died here, though."

"Yes, we also did some research on this house. Jeff will talk to you about it when he does the walk-through with you. Speak of the devil," she said, pointing at a tall, thin man who had just stuck his head in the door. He looked to be in his mid-forties and was dressed similar to Susan, with a matching black Knoxville Paranormal shirt.

"Would you mind coming in and showing us where you've experienced the activity?" he asked me

"Sure." As I stepped out of their trailer, I looked around to see if any of my neighbors were outside. I wish it would just hurry and get dark already.

There were two other guys besides Jeff. One introduced himself as Chad, who was tall and muscular—and extremely cute—and looked to be around the same age as me, in his early twenties, and the other guy, Rich was heavy-set and a little older with thinning hair.

I don’t know who I was expecting to show up—Dr. Egon Spengler, maybe—but this team looked normal. You’d never know they were ghostbusters in their spare time.

I took them to the main bathroom first. Normally I would've felt weird telling strangers about this, but I figured I wasn't telling them anything they hadn't heard before.

"The first experience I had was in here." I told them about feeling the fingers, which seemed to intrigue them, and then proceeded to my bedroom. "And this door always opens and closes on its own. I actually have to push this trunk in front of it just to keep it shut at night so I can sleep." I then told them about being touched on the leg and my covers moving. "I've had to start taking sleeping medicine just so I can sleep at night." They seemed to be much more excited about the activity than I was.

"Awesome," Jeff said. "Hopefully we'll catch the activity and possibly be able to find out what's going on here. We are going to set cameras up in these areas, maybe even have you come in here alone as we watch from central command. But before we set up everything, I want to talk to you about what we found out about the history of this house."

They walked back into the living room and made themselves at home on my couch. They were so comfortable here that it made me feel comfortable, too—the most comfortable I'd felt since I'd moved in. He reached into a folder and pulled out some papers, handing them to me as Rich spoke for the first time.

"I do all of the research on properties before investigations. It took me a while to find anything on this home, but once I found the original address, it made it much easier. I don't know if you know this or not, but all of the addresses on this road changed when it was deemed a part of the historic district. I think there's only one or two houses that have the same numbers that they've always had." No wonder I couldn't find anything when I tried to look up the history. "Anyway, this house was originally built in 1907 by a man named Henry Kauser. He lived here with his wife, Mable, who went missing in 1910 at the age of twenty-one. Henry was questioned in the disappearance, but being a prominent businessman in town, no one accused him of having a part in it. Her sister, however, was adamant that Henry killed Mable. She never could prove it, though, since a body was never found. The weird part is that Mable's sister's body was found dead in her home just a few months later from a supposed suicide."

He pulled out a picture and handed it to me. "This is Henry and Mable shortly after the house was built." The black and white photo was not clear, but you could definitely see a young man and woman standing on the front steps of my house. The man, Henry, was smiling, but Mable looked more distraught. I felt sad just looking at her.

A loud noise came from the hallway, causing us all to jump. They hurried down the hall to see what it was, while I sat still on my couch, thankful that they were here. When they came back into the living room, Jeff informed me that they were going to go ahead and set the cameras up since activity was already happening and that they'd finish telling me the history later.

"What was that noise?" I asked.

"It was your bedroom door slamming." Suddenly we heard it again. "Come on, guys, let's get set up as quick as we can," Jeff ordered.

They walked out the door with me right on their heels; they weren't leaving me in here by myself. I joined Susan in the trailer as the guys finished setting up cameras. It was dark by the time they finished, and it was neat to see how their cameras lit everything up like it was daytime. I was anxious for them to get started but scared at the same time. What if this made things worse? What if they left tonight and whatever was here was pissed and took it out on me?

"Um, I've got a question," I said, thinking I should've asked this before they even came. "Will you all being here make things worse?"

"It shouldn't," Jeff replied.

Shouldn't?

Chad must've seen the uneasy look on my face. "We are only gathering evidence to see what is going on, nothing more. The only difference is that we will try to communicate with whatever is here. We don't provoke or use Ouija boards or anything like that. So, once we leave, everything should go back to normal."

"That's what I'm afraid of," I admitted.

Susan patted my shoulder. "We’re here to try to help you. Once we see what we might be dealing with here, there are people we can put you in contact with who can help."

"I hope so." If not, Jenn would be the next person on my list of people to contact.

"Okay, let's get started," Jeff said.