Forest of Shadows Read Online Free PDF

important than erroneous perceptions.
    “I hate to tell you, but even science isn’t an exact science,” John said. “Just look at astronomy. I used to follow it religiously. Subscribed to every magazine, went to the planetarium every month, bought a nice shiny telescope with all the bells and whistles. Then I started to notice that all these established facts that I was reading about months or years ago were being proven untrue at an alarming rate. And no one seemed to care. They’d spout the new facts, you’d nod your head, and six months later the second established truth is tossed aside for the truth du jour.”
    Jessica dutifully left the table to bring her empty plate into the kitchen. John never failed to be impressed by her maturity. 
    He continued. “And now there are quantum theories that have divided the entire scientific community. By using quantum theory, one can suggest that maybe spirits are just us at a subatomic level where the laws of nature no longer apply. What we see, our version of reality, is actually an illusion. There’s an entire universe, hell, multiple universes, operating at the subatomic level that we can’t even imagine, and when we see what we call spirits, we’re catching glimpses of our world on a different plane of existence. And after you spend a few weeks trying to digest what took me a few sentences to clumsily describe, you’ll take some aspirin and decide whether you believe a ghost is a ghost is a ghost or it’s all the product of your imagination or a trick of light. You see, I don’t need science to justify my beliefs and there are a lot of people out there like me.”
    “As evidenced by all those hits on your website,” Eve interjected. 
    John had started a paranormal website two years ago. No topic was off limits. It averaged about ten thousand hits a month and had won several web awards for overall design and content management. It was a repository of the unexplained, a vast library of stories, pictures and videos of things that went bump in the night. John collected their stories and put them out for the world to see. He had even, over the past two years, started field investigating, amassing an arsenal of technology both old and new, designed to capture the fantastic on film, video and audio. It was amazing how a man crippled by anxiety could be so fearless in the face of the paranormal.
    “You got it. I like this field because of all the unknown aspects. I don’t necessarily want to find all the answers. It’s the experiences that attract me and thousands of others. Like religion. The only thing that holds it all together is faith. I’ve been a Catholic all my life and not once have I ever desired to see some scientific study on the existence of God. I just believe. Same thing applies here.” 
    He finished his monologue by munching on his last bite of chicken with a satisfied grin on his face. He loved talking about his passion and Eve had always been a great person to exchange ideas with. Knowing her, there was a counterpoint to come. 
    “So, your faith in the existence of ghosts is the only thing you need.”
    “Exactly.”
    Eve squinted her eyes and leaned forward in her chair. “And on faith alone, you believe in the absolute existence of UFOs, poltergeists, the Loch Ness monster and Bigfoot?”
    “Yes, yes, yes and no,” John said. “We all know Bigfoot is a crock of shit.”
    They both laughed while they cleaned up the dining room and Eve agreed to give Jessica a bath while he did the dishes. After the dishes, John sat on the living room couch and listened to Eve and Jessica sing some pop song in the bath. He was a lucky man in so many ways. He had a wonderful daughter, a beautiful home, no money worries and he was a self-employed man working in a field he loved. Most people would give their right arm to be in his position, and there were plenty of times he felt comfortable in the skin that had become his life after Anne. 
    Except this skin