I remembered I needed to flip my grilled cheese sandwich over at the same time I heard Ryan answer his phone. It was my Aunt Lynn calling back. He put her on speakerphone as I began to leave the back bedroom in our apartment. The kitchen was at the end of the hall, so I dawdled a bit to hear some of their conversation. “Describe what happened again,” she said. Ryan began to retell the details of what happened over the past couple of days in our apartment and how it has escalated to the current situation. I flipped my grilled cheese over and made sure I had a plate ready for when it was done. I wandered back into the far bedroom and sat on the floor…away from the bed. I heard my aunt say, “Yaa…that definitely sounds like you have a spirit.” I was afraid she would say that, but I figured it was the case. I always like to check with her though because she knows what she is talking about.

“So, what do we do now?” he asked in a heavy, sighing voice. Before I listened for the answer, I thought it would be a good idea to test out that spot on the bed, just to see if it was really true. Even though I figured it was, I thought “what’s the worst that could happen?” I quickly found my answer. As I leaped toward the edge of the bed where we thought the spirit had taken over, I felt a strong force take over. My body tensed as I floated above the bed, right where the spirit was. Suddenly, I was upright, my feet pointed toward the ground (and the edge of the bed), but I was still in the air. I shouldn’t have done that, I thought. Ryan was staring at me wide-eyed. My breathing got faster and I started to panic. What have I done? Why did I do that? How do I get down? I knew it was mad at me for testing it. My chest started to get heavier and my muscles got tighter and tighter. My breathing was now very rapid and it’s all I could hear. It was like the rest of the world had gone silent. I closed my eyes. I had to think of a way out. I have to calm down. I can’t let it know that I’m panicking. I tried to slow my breathing, slowly inhaling and slowly exhaling. I was taking very deep breaths in hopes that it would think I was calm and it could let me go. I apologized over and over for testing its existence. With my eyes still closed, I began praying for it to let me go, but it’s grip only got tighter. I think it wanted me to be scared of it. My breathing got faster again, I couldn’t help it, I was scared for my life, like any moment it could just as easily throw me against the wall. I made eye contact with Ryan again after what felt like an eternity.