The Awakening (3 page)

In tradition a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person.
Ghostly orbs are the most photographed anomalies caught on film by ghost hunters and are quite photogenic. Ghosts are normally harmless for the most part and have no desire to bring harm to anyone. Ghosts have been known to disrupt the lives of those that they affect and play pranks as well as move things about.
The traditional view of ghosts is that they are the spirits of dead people that for some reason are "stuck" often as a result of some tragedy or trauma. Fear of ghosts most obviously stems from our fear of the unknown. Most ghost and haunting activity is completely harmless.

Most sites suggested ghosts were there for protection rather than harm, which made me feel a little better; although I did not like the fact many ghosts come from tragic circumstances. I logged off and tried to sleep but questions kept floating through my mind. Why was this happening? Why was it occurring to me? What exactly did all these 'stay away' and 'beware' messages mean?

The week went by with no weird events and I felt relieved that things seemed to have gone back to normal so decided to postpone getting another doctor’s appointment. I spoke to Gavin on the phone a couple of times in brief snatched moments. The law firm were making him work 12-hour days and he was wondering if this was really the right career choice, but he was doing really well and I encouraged him to stick at it. “Just think of the super fabulous wages you‘ll be earning when you have qualified.” I said.

“Want to help me spend it?” he laughed down the phone.

“Most definitely.” I joked. Then we arranged to meet up at the weekend. As Gavin had been so busy and not had a chance to catch up with all our friends we decided to arrange a get together for the Saturday afternoon in our local pub. The usual gang arrived, we all had a laugh, joke and the afternoon went in a flash. We ended up moving into town for some more drinks and dancing. That night as Gavin walked me home I asked him to stay the night and to my delight, he agreed. I opened the door to my flat and turned on the lamps and all of a sudden, I felt nervous and excited. My feelings for Gavin were growing by the day and the intensity actually scared me a little bit, but it felt so right with Gavin and I hoped he felt the same. I turned to Gavin who gently gave me a kiss and softly held my face “Lauren I’m so glad I’ve met you.” he whispered in my ear. We went into my bedroom and lay on the bed talking and kissing and eventually I drifted off to sleep feeling warm and happy. I woke with a start from dreams of dark shapes, whispering voices and fire and as I looked around the room, I made out a shadow in the room. As I focused, Gavin woke and the shadow vanished before my eyes. 

“Lauren are you ok? You were talking in your sleep. Were you having a nightmare?” Gavin gently said as I slowly lay back on the bed. I decided it was time to be honest and told Gavin a little of the dreams I’d been having and the truth about the mobile phone incident. He agreed it was strange and tried to reassure me that it was nothing to worry about but I could see he looked concerned. His face had paled slightly and he looked deep in thought as though he was mulling things over and then seemed to relax slightly and asked me if I could make out the voices in my dreams and I told him I couldn’t but recently they seemed to be getting louder and the shapes were more focused.

“What do you think the beware message on my phone meant?” I asked.

“Maybe you were right and it was just some weird spam message.” he replied. I could see he wasn’t convinced and as we lay on the bed softly talking I drifted back to sleep. When I woke the second time Gavin was gone and I panicked thinking he’d left in the night deciding he didn’t want to be involved in a weirdo, but as I glanced around I noticed a note. He’d left a scrawled note beside my bed saying he’d be back in a little while and that he didn’t wake me, as I seemed so peaceful. I relaxed, pleased that I hadn’t scared him off with my weird stories and even more convinced Gavin was the man for me. Just as I was getting dressed after a shower, he returned with flowers and some breakfast. As we chatted, I forgot about the night’s weird visiting shadow and felt my heart swell at Gavin’s consideration and love.

Gavin was sent to London again for most of the following week but to my delight, he suggested I meet him there Friday and we’d have a weekend long date. As he’d had to spend quite a few weeks in London, he’d got to know his way around and was dying to do the touristy thing and go on the London eye. I meet him at Covent Garden tube station after managing with some difficulty to get the correct zone tube ticket. I was relieved to get off and locate Gavin in the crowd. He waved and as I finally reached him gave me a huge kiss, which took my breath away. “I’ve missed you. Are you ok?” 

“Yeah I’m good. I managed to get here in one piece although I’m definitely not cut out for London rush hour tube travel. Let’s get out of here, I need some fresh air. It’s baking down here.” We walked or rather jogged towards the exit hand in hand and I laughed as we reached the top of stairs to find a busker singing Mr Brightside. “On my god! It couldn’t have been timed more perfect.” I grabbed my purse and threw a few coins into the busker’s hat. He nodded and we moved on being pushed slightly by the crowds exiting the tube station.

We headed to Henry’s and had a lovely relaxed meal and some wicked cocktails. Then we made our way to the London Eye, where Gavin had booked us onto the final spin of the day. Thoughtfully Gavin had booked the champagne experience package so we had priority boarding and a glass of bubbly. It was so nice gliding around in the capsule as Gavin pointed out various landmarks and even the office he'd been working in. He wrapped an arm around my waist as he spoke quietly into my ear and I felt like we were the only people in the capsule. We laughed, kissed, and to my utter disappointment the 30 minutes flew by. We then strolled down the Southbank, watching street performers and some artists before stopping at a lovely bar. It was a gorgeous summers evening and Gavin had thought of everything and had even located a hotel a stone’s throw away. For which I was grateful, as I tipsily traipsed out of the bar later. We reached the hotel and I was thrilled as we entered the room. The view was amazing and I felt like a proper grownup for the first time in my life. I was 20 and couldn’t believe I was in such an amazing hotel with such a brilliant boyfriend. We slipped into bed tired, happy, and a little drunk. We kissed and talked nonsense before blissfully falling asleep. When I woke in the morning, I blurrily looked at Gavin and gently kissed his chest as I smiled before getting up and having a shower. When I reappeared Gavin was up and chatting on the phone to someone. I wrapped my arms around his waist and kissed his shoulder, then neck and finally his face as he grinned and hurriedly said goodbye to the person on the phone. We tumbled onto the bed and I forgot about the phone call, until sometime later. “Who was that you were chatting to when I rudely interrupted you?” I grinned mischievously.

“It was my cousin Daniel. Do you remember me mentioning him?”

“Yeah the one that lives in America.”

“Yep that’s him; He’s hoping to come over for a month later in the year to coincide with dad’s birthday. He’s actually my dad’s cousin but we are closer in age. There’s only a year’s difference.”

“Oh, right cool. Another family member to eventually meet. Hope he likes me.”

“Of course, he will. What’s not to like.” He began kissing me again and we ended up having a very late breakfast. We spent the rest of the day wondering around the Southbank and Covent Garden market before returning to Northampton on the train.

Over the next few weeks, although things with Gavin were going brilliantly, the dreams had been getting progressively worse and more frequent. The shadowy images seemed to come in and out of focus but in the last few dreams had seemed clearer and there was always someone shouting my name who sounded afraid and made my heart race. I often woke feeling clammy and breathless, as though I’d been running and had a feeling of dread and worry. To my relief I’d received no more weird messages on my phone or laptop and the whispering had ceased so at least in the day everything seemed normal. It felt like the dreams were some kind of warning, but I couldn’t unravel the truth and I was beginning to dread the dark shapes and sounds that would come to me. I was pretty sure it had nothing to do with migraines now especially as the headaches had stopped. I spent age’s googling psychics and mediums as it seemed I was sensing something paranormal and I felt unable to come to a rational explanation; although I feared that maybe down to lack of sleep and losing my mind rather than anything factual. Many of the websites I stumbled across were useless and seemed to just want your credit card details in the promise they would get a message from a deceased love one or give you clear details of what the future held. It appeared most sites were by so-called clairvoyants and preyed on desperate or lonely people. To someone as sceptical as me, it looked fake and untrustworthy. I did wonder why these weird things were happening to me, as I’m one of the most sceptical people I know. I’m an atheist and don’t believe in God or heaven and hell; and until recently I thought ghosts were 100% fiction, but I was fast coming the conclusion that I was in some way being haunted. One passage I found though seemed to make some sense –

The general public is often familiar with the term psychic or clairvoyant; however, they may not be aware of what a psychic does or the different abilities of a psychic.
Psychic is an umbrella term meaning an individual who uses one or more normal senses to an extended heightened degree beyond self. The five normal senses are seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching. The sixth sense is Claircognizance. Clairvoyance means clearly seeing.

Maybe for some reason I’d just become more sensitive to my surroundings and was picking up different signals. For the most part, I tried to ignore it and carry on as normal. I figured if it were a ghost it would just have to start communicating clearer and in a hurry, as the disrupted sleep was becoming a problem. As was usual these days I woke feeling tired and got ready for work and so a normal day begun. Nothing special was planned and the day went like most others. Rushed breakfast, day at work with general chitchat about the evenings telly and whether Chantelle and Russ in the office were really having an affair, then home to catch up on some housework and chill in front of the telly. Once home I had a call from Sophie arranging a night out at the weekend for her birthday and we made some plans to meet on Saturday at 7 pm at our favourite pub.

The week passed without event and fortunately, the dreams did subside slightly so I had been able to sleep better. Saturday night came around and I got ready to meet everyone at the pub for Sophie’s birthday night out. I was having a great time with the girls and alcohol was flowing as we moved from pub to pub. However, Gavin still hadn’t turned up and was I was beginning to worry. He had told me earlier in the day he would probably be late but it was nearly 10 o’clock. To my relief he arrived shortly after 10, rushed up to Sophie, apologised for being late, and wished her a happy birthday. Charlotte noticed I’d seen him come in and pulled me aside “So what’s the deal with you and Gavin? Is it getting serious? Been a few months now.” she asked.

“I really like him but we’ll see. I hope it will get serious but we haven’t really spoken about it….yet!” I replied grinning back.

“Oh my god! I can see wedding bells,” she screamed in my ear just as he came across the pub towards us.

“Shut up! It’s only been a few months and I’m only 20.” I nudged Charlotte who sloshed her drink and started laughing.

“What’s going on here then?” Gavin asked as he reached our side of the pub.

“Nothing just girly chit chat.” Charlotte replied, nudging me and rather non-discreetly disappearing to chat to someone else. Me and Gavin had a catch up and he was apologising for being late when one of our friends shouted it was time to go so everyone drank up and headed to the next bar down the road. In the next bar, me and Gavin ended up in a corner together and I suddenly began to get an awful headache. “You ok?” Gavin asked gently holding my arm but my headache suddenly intensified and I shook him off my arm. Images started to swarm through my mind, shadows, light, and whispers that were getting louder and louder. “Lauren are you ok?” I could hear people speaking, but couldn’t make out where it was coming from and then blackness.

I woke up with bright lights around me and in an unfamiliar room, it took a few minutes to realise I was in a hospital bed. I tried to sit up, my head thumped, and I rested back down. I looked about and then realised Gavin was sleeping sat up in a chair near my bed. I was just about to speak when a nurse come over “You’re awake.” she smiled kindly “I think you gave your friends a bit of a shock. Passed out and gave you quite a bang on the head.” It was only as she said this I realised I had a bandage on my head and raised my hand to touch the dressing. “You had to have a few stitches and, as you were so drowsy, we decided we’d better keep you in but you should be able to go home this afternoon,” the nurse informed me. “Your friend here insisted on staying in case you woke up and were confused. Oh look he’s just waking now, would you both like a cup of tea?”

“Um yes please, that would be lovely,” I croaked and tried again to sit up. Gavin got up from his chair and stood at the end of the bed looking pale and worried.

“Do you remember much about last night?” he asked his voice full of concern.

“Not really, I remember getting a headache and that’s it.”

“Oh right that’s good then.”

“Why what happened?”

“You just passed out but you said some weird things, thats all but don’t worry.” At that point, the nurse returned with two cups of tea and Gavin said he just had to pop out for a minute to make a call. I drank my tea and dozed back to sleep waking to find Gavin back in the room. “The nurse said once your blood test results are back and they check your blood pressure again you will be able to go home.”

“Oh that’s great, I really need a shower and my own bed. What a weird night. I think it’s you Gavin.” I joked. “You seem to have a weird effect on me headaches and nose bleeds and now I pass out. Must be your super manliness!” I laughed. Gavin smiled back but looked anxious and the smile didn’t reach his eyes. “I’m ok, you know it’s only a joke.” I said trying to reassure him.

“I know. You just worried me that am all.” he replied.

Later that day I was discharged and Gavin took me home, insisted on making me some dinner, and stayed for a while. The whole time he kept some distance and seemed worried I might collapse at any time. After a few hours, he left and I rang my friends to let them know I was ok and apologised to Sophie for ruining her birthday night out. Then I decided an early night was in order. Thankfully, I slept with no problems and woke feeling much better, although my head was still thumping slightly so I phoned work and explained I wouldn’t be in for the day and chilled out at home instead. Gavin called, and although I assured him I was feeling fine now, he insisted on coming round to check on me as soon as he finished work. When he arrived, he looked nervous and as we chatted, he kept his distance, which caused me to worry. I made a cup of tea and then sat on the sofa sensing he wanted to discuss something important. He moved forward and for the first time in over 24 hours touched me. He gently touched my arm, my head suddenly felt terrible again, and images much clearer flashed before my eyes. Gavin removed his arm and looked at me with alarm and worry, the images came faster and faster, and I felt a sudden rush of power and clarity. I put my head in my hands and squeezed my eyes tightly shut and concentrated on the images flying through my mind. I suddenly gasped and felt my heart rate speed up and then pop. The light bulbs in the living room smashed and fizzed. In the darkness, I said, “I know what you are.”