My Roommate Is Dead (BxB)✔

Chapter 23 - Smudging

There was a loud crash below as he reached out desperately to grab the ledge. It was dark, but no one in the neighborhood was dumb enough to be wandering around at this time, so the chances of anyone spotting the endangered man were zero.

Aaron's fingers cramped as he struggled to pull himself back up. He then let out a fearful yelp when something cold grabbed him by the wrists. Unexpectedly, he was yanked up and back into the room where he plopped down under the window sill. Immediately he glanced around to see what had saved his life, only to find nothing.

Cautiously he stood, then looked outside and stared down into the front yard where the smashed AC unit lay strewn across the sidewalk.

Aaron blinked, thinking this situation looked very familiar but not quite able to place his finger on it. Another thing he noted was that there was light coming from downstairs, meaning someone else was in the house. 

Hesitantly he made his way to the door and peeked out into the hallway. The foggy darkness was gone and he could see just fine now, so he darted back to his room and flicked on the lights. Then he pulled out his phone to find that it was almost 1:00 A.M.

Having had enough supernatural nonsense, Aaron sat at the foot of his bed, wide awake until morning. In his traumatized state, he became extremely jumpy and jerked away from the slightest sound for the rest of the night.

He'd already known that something evil was trying to get into the house, but now he knew it was already inside. 

What was the meaning behind the vision he saw? 

He needed answers, and as soon as it was light out he returned to the Wicca shop, not even bothering to glance at the newly recovered Todd on his way out. The plan was to buy as many herbs as he needed so he could go through with a smudging ritual, but then he paused at the checkout and eyed the dark-haired woman curiously.

She quirked an eyebrow at him, waiting for Aaron to ask his question.

"Do you know if there's any connection between the supernatural and time travel?" He finally blurted out, unable to contain his curiosity.

The woman didn't appear to have expected that question but quickly shrugged it off. "Sure."

"Really? Can you tell me more?"

"Well, again it depends on what you believe. I don't know everything, but I'm sure you've heard about how ghosts tend to relive the moments that they're most attached to, right? Some claim ghosts don't live in a linear time stream. They hop around from one point in time to another and exist out of order."

"So you could wind up at different points in time if you're being haunted?"

"Maybe? Unless you only believe in malevolent spirits. These spirits may be using visions to trick you into doing something for them. I'm open-minded enough to consider any possibility. Just...If you're experiencing unusual visions then I'd suggest looking for symbols to see if there is some form of meaning behind it all."

"Symbols?"

"It could be anything. A common color, a shape, maybe even a picture, like the Eye of Rah. If you find the symbol then you can figure out the meaning from there and what the spirit's true intentions are."

Aaron took interest in that and tried to recall if he'd seen anything that could be considered a symbol. When he failed to come up with one, he thanked her for her time and paid for the herbs.

As soon as he was back in the house, he set the book of rituals on the counter and bundled everything together so he could burn the wad in one go. Once he made sure there were no loose bits, he lit the end, blew out the flame, and started walking around fanning the smoke into every nook and cranny. Though he took extra care around the areas he recalled seeing the shadow beings before.