Josh had always browsed stories that involved the bizarre.
One story told about a person whose house was haunted by a spirit. His neighbor, according to his schoolmate, went to the extent of asking the help of a pastor to do the casting out, but the schoolmate said the pastor was unable to purge the evil spirit in the haunted house and that it took a priest to successfully perform the exorcism.
Another story that caught his attention was about a ship that sank ten years ago but it was said to have been visible and seen by fishermen at the stroke of twelve midnight. The mystery remained unsolved.
He got curious at how a group of teenagers like him were seen simultaneously to be in a state of seizure. Whether they were only acting, he couldn't tell.
He heard about a woman who was purged of an evil spirit in her body. That woman stopped to bleed. Wasn't that like a story in the bible? He heard himself whispered.
He heard a story about a man whose looks and voice changed because of the evil spirit that haunted the man's body. He developed boils as well as bruises. He didn't like attending churches; he hated people. It took another priest to cleanse the person of the evil possession.
He also heard about a socio-path whose life seemed dedicated to destroying other people's lives. That person was found to be perverted. He was purged of the evil spirit inside his body.
There was also the story of a psychopath. He was as fierce as Hannibal that no one could come near him. It took almost an entire religious community to pray for his soul's healing. One day, they found him in a very different disposition. God or an angel healed him, so went testimonies.
One more horror tale: There was this story of a husband and wife. The husband was the suspect in the murder of the wife. The spirit of the wife appeared in many instances and occasions to the friends and relatives sending message about the murder. The apparitions only stopped when the man surrendered to authorities.
He also heard of stories of healing by faith—of terminal cases getting healed by praying in spirit to God.
From then on, Josh was always in front of his laptop even as it took him a whole day to watch documentary films devoted to the paranormal after class.
Yuri and Evan called him "weirdo," but Suzy found him funny and kind. He was particularly interested in telepathy and clairvoyance. It gave him a high, studying the supernatural.
When mom told them about her being seen with a man and having a sweet time and he told his mom to choose to ignore what seemed to be an obvious rumor, his thought went farther. He asked: Is our house haunted by a spirit? Who was that man at the lake if his mom had said that not by any chance had she seen one with those looks they described, fished at the lake. That was the reason why he urged his friends to go back. For him to appear in his dream was another reason. One day, when they were free in school, they would. He wanted to find out more about that man.
Josh and friends went back to the lake one day to catch fish again, but they did not find the strange man. The catch was rare.