Construct

I was walking back home from school with my friends, Faith and Mylene, when I notice a girl our age staring at us from across the street.

"Is that Thea?" I asked.

"Huh?" Faith turned her head. "No one's there, Flor"

"It can't be her anyway" Mylene said. "We agreed that the ritual didn't work."

I looked back at Thea, but she was gone.

Me, Mylene and Faith had a common interest with the paranormal. We've read countless horror stories, looked up creepypastas and even conducted a séance with an Ouija board.

"See you, Flor!" Faith and Mylene gave their goodbye.

I do not feel safe at home. This was where we tried an experiment we read off somewhere in the Internet.

Evening followed and I began to study after dinner. As I flipped the light switch on, I heard someone calling my name.

“Flor!”

I rushed downstairs to check.

“Mom?” I asked. “Did you call me?”

“I didn’t” mom replied as she ironed some clothes.

Odd. I went back upstairs and found that the lights of my room were off. I could’ve sworn it was on a while ago.

Across my room, I see glowing eyes looking right at me. The form of Thea could be seen with the little amount of light. I gasped and quickly flipped the switch on. But she was gone.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flor seemed anxious lately. It’s been days since we tried constructing an artificial ghost. Flor didn’t think it was a good idea but I goaded her on and easily convinced Faith to try it.

An artificial ghost is said to be an entity created by the combined psychic energies of the participants. In this case, us three. We agreed to meet at Flor’s place and followed the instructions to channel our energies to this construct.

My cellphone rang which I promptly picked up.

“Hello, Flor” I said. “Still awake??”

“Mylene, Thea is here” she said.

Now, Thea was the name we gave to the construct. We took turns giving her a background story and a personality as we tried to weave her into existence.

Flor suggested the name and defined her visual straits, I gave her a tragic background story and Faith described her personality.

Perhaps Flor imagined Thea too well and that her anxiety made her see things.

“I’m telling you, Mylene. She’s real!”

“But, it didn’t work” I reassured her. “The ritual failed.”

“You saw what happened” Flor sounded harsh. “It almost worked!”

My mind played the moment when we were already deep into the ritual. It was done as if we were summoning a real ghost, but instead, we added our own elements to bring it to life.

Faith brought a particular crystal. She called it a focus gem which we used to direct our energy into. We felt a surge of power as we encircle the gem as we held hands.

We stared at the crystal as it glowed, but Flor looked up as if she saw something rise. We felt rattling on the floor as objects began to shake on their own. Some smaller items began to levitate and orbit around us.

Thea was the embodiment of our will. I told the group to concentrate on doing specific tasks in an effort to control her. However, before we were able to do anything, the gem stopped glowing and the floating items fell on the ground. The shaking stopped.

“But, Faith said that the gem was barely energized” I told Flor. “We didn’t really do enough to create something stable.”

“Mylene, I hear someone talking in my room.”

“Calm down, it was probably just stuff like the TV downstairs.”

“Are you sure?”

“It must be! Listen, I’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay? We got class early in the morning.”

“Alright…”

“Bye.”

I rested my head on my pillow and drifted to sleep.

I found myself standing outside a familiar ruined home. An invisible force drove me to enter. A gust of wind blew as I opened the door.

Inside, I found someone sitting in the corner. She was crying. I slowly approached her.

“Hey,” I spoke. “What’s wrong?”

She pointed behind me. I turned around and saw two hanged bodies dangling. I recognized them. They were Thea’s parents.

I backed away from the corpses when my arm was suddenly grabbed from behind.



“You killed them” the girl said.

“T-t-thea?” I stuttered.

She looked at me right in the eye and screamed. Her face distorted as she wailed becoming more and more frightening as her pitch intensified. Everything was peeling away into darkness.

I woke up in shock breathing heavily. I checked my cellphone for the time. It’s 3 AM. There were multiple text message from Flor:

“I can’t sleep. She keeps yelling at me.”
“She’s mad about the name I gave her.”
“Thea is blaming you for her life.”
“Please, make her stop.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I lied to Flor and Mylene. It wasn’t a focus gem.

My family was knowledgeable about crystals and their mystical properties. Some gems can be used for healing; others can be used for curses.

I had always envied Mylene and Flor. Grades, looks, talents… you name it. They have everything I could only to dream to have.

The opportunity came to me when Mylene suggested that we try creating an artificial ghost. My plan was to use a special gem to capture this construct. Since it was an avatar of our psychic powers, I thought of it as means to take their energy and use it for myself.

The ritual did succeed though they interpreted the gem’s doing as failure.

“Good morning, guys!” I greeted the two.

“Hey, Faith…” Flor sounded depressed.

“Good morning…” Mylene yawned.

“What’s wrong?”

They told me everything that happened lately. Hauntings, nightmares… my plan is working.

School days went as usual for me. But the tables have turned. It was I who now earned better grades than the two even topping in class for once. I may not have earned the looks, but I have attracted attention as more people flock to seek my aid in academics.

We had lunch at the canteen. Mylene tried to start a conversation but stuttered. I could see Thea hovering near us. I couldn’t help but smile as Flor shivered uncontrollably.

“Flor, what’s wrong?” Mylene asked.

“You looked like you’ve seen a ghost” I added trying not to put on a tone of sarcasm.

“She’s here” Flor cried.

I secretly took out the gem from my pocket maneuvering Thea to taunt Flor.

“I can hear her” Mylene said nervously.

Thea just collected some energy for me. That’ll do for now.

“Faith, didn’t you notice anything?” Mylene asked.

“Me?” I innocently responded. “Not much. Maybe a few nightmares but nothing noteworthy.”

For a split second, I saw Flor glare at me angrily.

“Yo, anything wrong, Flor?” I asked.

She collapsed.

Flor was rushed to the clinic. Perfect timing too. We had another big test today. Now, I just need to get rid of Mylene.

I took out the gem during the test and gleefully answered. My empowered psych can handle this. Mylene, on the other hand, started to panic.

The proctor took notice of her shivering.

Thea slowly approached Mylene making her jump off her seat and falling to the floor.

“Faith!” Mylene called out. “How could you!?”

Everyone watched as Mylene covers her face from an unseen horror. I could see Thea mentally harassing her. Like Flor, Mylene was also rushed to the clinic.

Now, I just need to finish them off. I took out the gem and admired its glow of power. Thea was right beside me.

“How could you, Faith?” she spoke.

“What’s this? You’re talking to me?”

Thea stared at me angrily.

“How could you do this to us? We were your friends!”

No. This can’t be happening.

“Stay back!” I yelled too loud. “I control you!”

People stared at me and whispered. Thea floated towards me. I ran across the hall pushing people out of my way. Thea, however, did not slow down.

In desperation, I hid in the chapel. I panted. This isn’t good. Thea will find me soon. A part of me is in her and she can sense me no matter where I go.

I must go the clinic. I must stop Flor and Mylene from getting me. It must be them. Their anger now overwhelms Thea who is now hellbent to get rid of me. But, before I ran, somebody grabbed my arm. I screamed when I saw Thea.

“You don’t understand” Thea said. “I had always existed. Though you have projected my form as an embodiment of your powers, my identity was waiting to take over.”

“Who are you!?”

“I saw my master fall from the sky. So many, including me, followed him. We sought to bring humanity to where we now dwell. But, we could not manifest in this realm. Our whispers are always heard and we have inspired the damned.”

“I can give you anything you want! Just let me go! Please! I’ll sacrifice people to you! I’ll murder in your name if I have to! But please, just let me go!”

“Thanks to you, I will soon be complete. That is all I want.”