The Return of the Diabolical Doctor Abacus

by John Michael Osborne

Brianna Basra and Lonny Clark stood in the basement and gazed into the closet. When Brianna first inherited her late uncle’s mansion in Atlanta, her psychic power revealed a spiritual vortex there.

Brianna set her uncle’s magical journal down on the table aside of statue of Buddha. She tied back her waist-length black hair. It was still very hot and humid the week after Labor Day weekend. “My uncle wrote in his journal that not only can we use the vortex for our astral bodies, but we can summon Vimarome, the guardian of this vortex, he can give us the power to take our astral bodies through it to travel space and time and interact with people.”

“Interact with them?” Lonny said skeptically. “Brianna, are you sure?”

Brianna wasn’t sure of anything with her uncle’s book. “That’s what his journal says.”

Lonny wiped his brow and tossed his shoulder length dreadlocks. It looked like the heat was getting to him, too. “I don’t know, Brianna. That sounds pretty far fetched to me. And who and what is this spirit we’re supposed to summon? It sounds risky.”

“My uncle practiced white mysticism. There is no risk. I think we should try it with our astral bodies. Wouldn’t you like to see other planets? Meet beings from other worlds? Go back in time to see great historical events?”

“Yeah, sure. But—”

Brianna’s cell phone rang. “Hi, Vera. What’s up?”

Brianna’s friend, Vera Dagle, pleaded, “Can you come over to my hotel tonight? The activity has become much worse. I can’t put up with much more of this.”

Brianna expected this. “I warned you not to buy that place. Do you believe in ghosts now?”

“Yes! Can you come over tonight?”

“Yeah, we can come. What’s going on?”

“I’ve been slapped, punched, and kicked. I’ve heard a voice tell me to get the hell out. I’ve had plates and glasses smashed. I tell you, Brianna, I can’t afford all this damage. If this doesn’t stop, I’m going to have to sell the place.”

“Okay, honey, hang in there. The cavalry is on the way.”

“What’s up?” Lonny asked.

She hung up. “That was Vera.”

Lonny groaned like he lost a fist fight. “Let me guess. Things are getting worse since she started to remodel the place for her bed and breakfast hotel. It’s probably the spirit of Dr. Abacus. He probably doesn’t like his old home converted to a hotel.”

“You got it. She wants us to come tonight.”

“Okay, we can go.”

“We’re going to have to wait to try this with the vortex some other time.”

“Can’t say that bothers me.”

Vera bought the “Arch,” the house built by architect and artist, Dr. Domorio Abacus. She heard the house was supposedly haunted, but believed that would be a business attraction for the hotel, but now things have become so bad, she’s at her wits end.

Brianna and Lonny just started classes after the spring break, but they had no homework to

worry about yet. They could help Vera right away. They drove out there at dusk.

Brianna read in her late uncle’s diary as Lonny drove them to the Abacus Bed and Breakfast,

just south of Atlanta. As Lonny parked the van, Brianna thought the house looked like a small

dark blue castle with its two spires, rounded walls, and frames. Four roof-high evergreens stood next to the front of the house.

Brianna left her uncle’s diary in the van. “Do you know anything about this home?”

“Only that Dr. Abacus built it.”

“Do you think that his spirit could haunt two places?”

They darted up the front porch.

“It’s possible,” Lonny said. “When we rid the Anderson family of the Doctor’s spirit in their home, he may have sought refuge here. Or he may have haunted both places all along. That’s not unheard of for a ghost to frequent more than one place.”

Vera welcomed them inside. She was a beautiful girl, short, thick luscious curly blond hair, with high cheek bones. She wore wild flower perfume and a short blue dress over her curvy frame. Brianna met Vera when Brianna was a freshman and Vera was a senior. After Vera graduated, for her graduation present, her father gave her enough money to invest in a business.

Brianna felt something immediately when she stepped into the living room. An unsettling, evil, residual energy hung in the air. “So tell us what’s been going on and where.”

“I had a couple staying upstairs. Late at night, when the husband was in the bathroom getting ready for bed, his wife was in their room. He heard her scream. He found her writhing on the floor.”

“What happened?” Lonny asked.

Vera showed them the room. “She had to be taken away. She thought she was on fire. And the last I heard, she still does. They don’t know what to do for her.”

Brianna didn’t see anything unusual about the room. A bed with a white bedspread sat

against the wall near the front light switch. A dresser set across from it. A closet stood next to the

dresser. A TV sat at the foot of the bed. A colorful spring landscape painting hung above the bed. “You think the spirit of Domorio Abacus did something to her?”

“No. I think the ghost of Echo Blackburn attacked her.”

“Who?” Lonny asked.

Echo Blackburn. The name reverberated through Brianna’s head. She heard about her. “Wasn’t she a mistress of the Doctor’s?”

“Yes.” Vera led them to the kitchen. Brianna couldn’t believe it. The place was absolutely trashed. Broken glasses and plates covered the floor. A couple of cabinet doors, above the yellow stove and over the white counter, stood open.

“Good Lord,” Brianna exclaimed. “You weren’t kidding about the broken glasses and dishes.”

Vera tiptoed through the kitchen. “No, I wasn’t. Excuse the mess. But I’m not the one who did this. And I wanted you to see this for yourself.”

“What happened in here?” Lonny asked.

Vera said, “Cabinet doors flew open and everything just started flying at me. And I took off. That’s when I called you, Brianna.”

With every step they took, it sounded like a fire crackled beneath their feet.

The kitchen was small, with a yellow stove and brown refrigerator. A small wooden island, for preparing meals, stood in the middle of the kitchen. A large wooden dining table stood to their right. An odd burning odor hung in the air.

Lonny said, “Tell me more about this Echo Blackburn.”

“Echo burned to death in this kitchen,” Vera explained. “She was a Polynesian lover Doctor

Abacus kept behind his wife’s back.”

Brianna shuddered. “That’s right. I remember now. He taught at Georgia State and at

Emory. The year was 1965. Neither college liked what he was doing. Rumors were flying around

Atlanta.”

Vera stepped to the stove. “Yeah, they knew he was erratic. They heard he was studying the occult, maybe even black magic. They looked the other way with that.”

Brianna felt something odd. Her psychic sense couldn’t pinpoint it, but it was as if a spirit hid nearby. “An affair here in Atlanta in ‘65?”

“Back at that time it was scandalous,” Vera said. “But he was able to keep it quiet.”

“Do you know how Vera was burned to death?” Lonny asked.

“No one does, my dear,” Vera said. “Her death remains unsolved. Some people think Abacus murdered her.”

Brianna felt a strange sensation the closer she got to Vera. “While others think that the Doctor’s involvement in black magic is what brought about her demise.”

“And Echo was also involved in black magic, wasn’t she?” Lonny asked.

Vera stepped away from Brianna. “Yes. The original house burned down with Echo in it. Abacus rebuilt it, but he was never the same after that.”

Lonny peered into the dining room. “Yeah and he hung himself in his home.”

Sharp shivers ran down Brianna’s back. It sounded like a spooky, terrifying tragedy. “So you want us to try to rid this place of Echo’s spirit?”

“Do you think you can?” Vera asked.

“We can try,” Lonny said. “I want to set up some cameras around the house. Would that be okay?”

“Certainly.”

“Are you staying here tonight while we investigate?” Brianna asked.

“Yes. I want to go back to my studio to paint. I like to paint at night.”

Brianna thought it was odd that she wanted to stick around to work on paintings, but some

clients want to stay to see what happens.

Once they got back to Lonny’s van to get their equipment, Lonny asked. “What do you

think?”

“There’s an oppressive feeling in there. I got a feeling that there’s a spirit presence that has been in the home.”

“I did, too. What did you make of Vera?”

“She seems…I don’t know, split somehow. I think the place is putting a lot of stress on her.”

Lonny handed her a camera. “Don’t you think it’s strange she fled the place after the after the activity in the kitchen, and now she wants to go to the basement at night to work on a painting?”

“I think it’s very strange, especially since she wasn’t an art major in college. I think we should check out the basement right away.”

They returned to the house.

Lonny set up his camera in the kitchen. “She could be crazy, but still be experiencing paranormal phenomena in here.”

While Lonny set up the other camera and got them hooked up to his computer, Brianna went down to the basement to try to capture EVPs, or electronic voice phenomena on her tape recorder. She also tried to use her psychic abilities to detect a spirit presence. She did feel an

energy source in the house, but couldn’t locate it.

Brianna called out to Echo, but she received no EVPs. She went upstairs and continued to get a message from Echo. At times she smelled smoke. The odor suddenly appeared and

then mysteriously vanished. She suspected Echo was in the house, but because of Echo’s involvement in black magic, she believed Echo may have the ability to block Brianna’s psychic power from detecting Echo’s presence.

Brianna lied down in the bedroom where Abacus and Blackburn once copulated. She breathed deep and relaxed. She closed her eyes and saw splotches of bright blues, purples, reds, yellows and greens. The colors gave to gesso-white. Brianna broke free of her body. She now could detect where the power source emanated. It was somewhere below.

Brianna floated downstairs. She found Lonny had hooked up his cameras, and he checked the computer to make sure everything worked properly.

The energy source felt further down, so Brianna floated down to the basement. She felt closer to the psychic energy. Brianna found a room lit in the back. The door stood cracked opened. Vera worked on a painting.

Paintings littered the room. Vera stood before a canvas painting furiously. Brianna floated inside Vera. She didn’t expect the terrifying thoughts and the power that froze her into Vera’s body.

#

Lonny checked his cameras and his sound equipment and everything was ready to go. Before he could check up on Brianna, he heard someone whisper his name.

“Who’s calling me?”

“Lonny.”

The voice came from outside. Lonny opened the back door. A shadowy figure ducked behind the trees out in the back.

“Who’s out here?”

The ghastly white face of Dr. Abacus appeared between the trees.

Lonny shuddered. “You again. I thought I sent you on to the after world.”

“Join us, boy. Your psychic power is great. We can show you so much more.”

“Who’s we?”

“Andrew Dorian and Baltar.”

“You expect me to hook up with a demon?”

“Baltar isn’t a demon, boy. He’s a spirit from another world. He has shown me so much. And he can show you, too.”

“Another world?” Lonny gasped. “Where is this other planet?”

“In our galaxy. Baltar is trying to create a link between this world and his. He needs help. He doesn’t have enough power.”

“How has Baltar gotten to this world from his?”

“I don’t have time to answer all these questions now. Make up your mind. Join us.”

“No. I don’t believe you. This is just another trick--” Lonny smelled smoke. He whirled

around. Fire consumed the house. “Brianna!”

Someone clubbed him from behind. He blacked out.

#

Brianna heard inside Vera’s mind. For how long I’ve heard trapped in my own home. I’ve been waiting for Domorio to return to me. Years and years I’ve waited.

I’m not getting Vera’s thoughts, Brianna thought. These are the thoughts of Echo Blackburn. She has possessed Vera.

The painting Vera worked on looked a red and orange mess.

I’ve now reunited with my Domorio, Echo thought. And you and that friend of yours won’t stop me!

Brianna tried to leave Vera’s body, but she couldn’t.

“You didn’t realize I knew you are here with me in this body, did you?” Echo spoke. “I’ve great power now, little girl, now that I have united with my Domorio has come for me. We have

help. And now I say goodbye to you.”

Vera splashed the painting with rubbing alcohol and lit it ablaze. She sprayed the alcohol all over.

Vera laughed hysterically. “You will die here with me and become one of us.”

No! Brianna thought. She tried to yank free of Vera’s body, but Echo held her inside. Let me go!

Vera’s body was overcome with smoke. She collapsed. The fire burned all around her. It spread upward. Brianna’s still body lied in the bedroom above. She needed to get back to her own body to survive.

She could feel the fire burning Vera’s flesh. It felt knives cut all across her body. She cried

out as Echo laughed like a lunatic.

The fire consumed the first floor and leaped to the second. Brianna wondered what happened to Lonny. Was he hurt? Was he dead? She couldn’t even call to him for help. This was it. She had to die here in someone else’s body while her own burned into charred memories two stories

above. She regretted ever taking the magical journal from her uncle. Brianna knew she would become the very thing she and Lonny sought to capture on film, a ghost. But would Baltar, Dr. Abacus, and Echo Blackburn have control of her spirit?

#

Lonny shook the cobwebs and looked up at the house. The first was engulfed in flames. The second floor bled smoke like a crumbling dam.

As Lonny got to his knees, he spotted a muscular figure with long dark hair tied back scaling the side of the house. Lonny recognized him. Black Andrew broke into a second story window.

He found Brianna’s body lying on a bed. The invading smoke started to overtake the room. Andrew Dorian snatched her body and carried her back down to the ground.

“I don’t believe it,” Lonny mumbled.

Black Andrew saved Brianna.

Lonny sprinted to him and tackled him. Andrew punched Lonny in the head and kneed him in the gut.

As Lonny gasped for air, Black Andrew said, “I owed her a favor for healing me of cancer and now we’re even. I hate owing anyone anything. Next time we meet, things will be different.” Black Andrew walked up to Lonny and clubbed him in the head again. “You should’ve joined us.”

Black Andrew ran off.

Once the fire consumed the house, Echo Blackburn let go of Brianna’s astral sprit. Brianna heard laughter as she floated back upstairs. Through the fire and smoke, she saw her body being carried outside. She saw Lonny fight with Black Andrew and heard what Andrew said.

Lonny caught his breath as Brianna reentered her body. The smell of sickly-sweet burning wood filled the air.

Her eyes popped open. “Lonny.”

“Brianna,” he gasped. Her lungs ached for clean, refreshing oxygen. “You’re alive!”

He threw his arms around her. She felt his pectoral muscles against her breasts. Brianna was overwhelmed. He never held her before.

“I thought I lost you!” he said.

Brianna grinned. “That’ll never happen.” She looked around. “Where’s Vera?”

“I don’t know if she made it out or not.”

As they watched the house burn down, Lonny told her he saw outside. She told him about

Echo Blackburn.

“You think your uncle gave you his journal to stop this bunch?”

“Yes. I—” Brianna looked around. “What happened to Andrew?”

Lonny shrugged. “He just took off.”

Brianna ran to the van. Lonny chased after her. The journal was gone.

“He stole it!” Brianna exclaimed. “He stole the journal. He can’t be allowed to see what’s inside, Lonny. There are secrets about my uncle’s house in there. He can find out how to increase his psychic power. He’ll abuse the knowledge that’s in there.”

Lonny held her hand. “I think we’re going to back to your uncle’s home and ask for his help.”