Page 53 of Mack's Horribly Hellacious Ghost Town
With Samuel’s warning, we made sure everyone was fully geared up and we had something of a plan of action. Mack, Gwyn, Beau, Hannah, and I chose to go ahead of the rest of the group to set up. Eli had done a lot yesterday and was dragging this morning, so to give her a bit more time, it seemed sensible.
We had no intention of doing this building in one day. Maybe two. Two seemed reasonable for a building of this size. Or it did until I waltzed through the front door.
I would like to go back in time, about two hours, and smack myself on the back of the head. Could someone finish up a time machine so I could do so?
In my defense, the building from the front didn’t look very big. Its appearance presented itself like it was—a former brothel renovated into a movie theater. I’d expected two screen rooms at most. But noooo, this building had a whole basement and attic, and it wentdeep.It was at least eight thousand square feet, maybe more.
But the Mediums didn’t seem to find it impossible. Beau was even mapping out a plan to start on the main floor and then split up, so…maybe this was doable? I knew for sure it’d take more than two days, though. We’d be lucky to not spend a solid week here.
Hannah came up to me and asked, “How much salt do you have in your SUV?”
“I’m thinking not enough.”
“I was afraid of that. I’ll ask Quinn to grab more on the way in.”
“Yeah, please do. I seriously only have about sixty pounds. Nowhere near enough for a building of this size.”
With a hum of agreement, she walked back to Beau, already pulling her cell phone out to make the call.
I eyed the dim recesses of the front hall uneasily, a pit growing in my stomach. There wasn’t anything in this room except the ticket booth, the concession counter, and a few poster displays. It shouldn’t have felt claustrophobic, but it did. Maybe I’d played too muchFive Nights at Freddy’s, but that ticket booth right there? Something was going to pop out at any second, I knew it.
I felt a hand wrap around my arm and looked down to find Gwyn clutching me, eyeing everything around her uneasily.
“What’s up?” Hmm, thermal goggles were probably a really good idea in this building. I’d put them on next.
“Brandon, this place is…like, whoa.” Her head panned, eyes growing a bit wider as she did. “I thought I knew what a haunted building looks like. I’m, uh, yeah.”
“That bad, huh?”
“It now makestotalsense why they had to shut down.”
“Ouch. So…how many of these ghost trails you seeing are white?”
She grimaced before admitting, “Only about half. The others are a mix of yellow and something…burnt umber? Like yellow trying to turn black. Lots of grey trails, too. One of them is more a charcoal color, I’m guessing from the wannabe demon ghost.”
That pit in the bottom of my stomach? Just became a yawning abyss. I immediately hailed Mack. “Hon?”
He turned and came to me, his expression grim. “Mon trésor, I don’t mind saying, nothing’s good about this building.”
“Gwyn tells me half the ghost trails are either grey, yellow, or yellow edging on black.”
“An unfortunate truth,” he confirmed, rubbing his jaw with one hand and looking very overwhelmed. “Beau’s thinking we need to stick together instead of forming teams so we can back each other up if needed.”
“Oh, isthatwhat he meant?”
“Is that not what you heard?”
“I misunderstood him, apparently. I thought he wanted us to split into teams and take this a floor at a time.”
Mack shook his head immediately in horror. “Mais non, cher. No, that’s suicide.”
“I’m so relieved, you have no idea.” Felt like I could convince my heart to stop trying to hide in my throat. We’d come a little ahead of everyone else to scout, as the nonmorning people weren’t moving fast and Eli needed all the recharge time shecould get, but I was not willing to go farther into the building without them. The lights were on—floor lights ran along the walls and old-fashioned pendant lights hung every five feet—but still somehow it was very dim. Maybe it was the thick maroon carpet or the dark-patterned wallpaper on the walls sucking up all the light.
Maybe I was projecting.
Could be two things?
I heard the front doors behind us swing open and turned, half expecting real people. Half dreading dead people.
