Peter Hunter Excerpt #3: Sensei is Creepy



Excerpt #3: Sensei is Creepy

“Wait, what if someone saw us?” he asked. “What do we say?”

Rob chuckled. “I’ve been doing this for fifteen years, kid, and no one has ever seen me.” He thought a moment. “Or at least, they’ve never approached me about it.”

Sensei started for the house in front of them with a “for sale” sign that included an additional: “price reduced!”

“The asuras and devas have this confounding ability to manipulate coincidences,” Rob explained. “They can put thoughts into people’s heads and orchestrate a hundred people at once. Like right now, my deva could’ve coordinated all the people on this block to look away from their windows, get distracted by the TV or a phone call. Or maybe someone just realized they really have to go to the bathroom.”

“It works like that every time?” Peter questioned.

“People only see what they want or explain weird stuff away.”

Peter thought of the times he had seen strange things around Sensei and dismissed it as exhaustion or an optical illusion.

Sensei Rob jiggled the doorknob and found the house locked.

“So what are we dealing with here?” Peter asked eagerly. “Is it a haunted house? Are ghosts really just asuras? And what’s with the book? Are you going to bore them to death with some reading?”

Rob laughed. “First of all, we don’t kill anything. Even spirits.”

CLICK

Peter jumped as the door burst open, seemingly on its own.

“Thanks,” Rob said to the air next to him.

Peter looked back and forth between Sensei and the empty air, completely disturbed. Sensei continued speaking as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

“Actually, I don’t even know if we can kill the spirits,” he said pensively. “Second,” he continued as they entered the house, “asuras often pretend to be ghosts of deceased humans. It’s one of their favorite tricks.”

Inside, the house was barren. A layer of dust coated everything while countless specs hovered in the last vestiges of sunlight. A warm, stale stench affronted Peter’s nostrils. And with every step, the floorboards creaked beneath their feet. Peter felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise as a sense of dread settled over him.

“They love to show up at séances, sharing details that only the deceased person would know,” Rob continued, as if they were simply talking about the weather. “Now, that’s not saying that every medium only channels asuras. Or that people don’t have miraculous encounters of loved ones who have passed. But the asuras often mimic those experiences.” Sensei Rob peered into each room as they walked. “They love to mimic everything good.”

“Wait, how do the asuras know the details?” Peter asked, trying to pay attention to Sensei Rob instead of imagining invisible spirits of hatred watching him from every corner. “The ones that only the deceased person would know?”

“Hm?” Sensei said. “Oh. Because they watch us constantly. Didn’t I tell you that?”

Peter shivered. “Like even now?”

His gaze darted to different corners and rooms.

“Yep.” Rob continued his slow procession through the house. “Once you connect to your deva, it opens up what Buddhists call the divine or third eye and you’ll be able to see them. They’re more common than you’d think.”

Peter shivered. He wasn’t sure he wanted his third eye opened. He was creeped out enough already.

He wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, but the air seemed to be getting colder, the further they went into the house.

 “So what now?” he asked Rob. “Do we wait for some possessed dude to show up or something?”

“Nope. The asuras are already here,” Sensei said casually. “Can’t you tell?”

Hungry for more?
Excerpt #1


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