A Ghastly Encounter (Sera x Howler)

[howler01]

Nate figured that he led a pretty normal life. A photographer by trade, he usually brought his camera to old, abandoned buildings and took pictures of them before they were torn down. He called these "architectural shots". Really, it was a dangerous activity, but he loved doing it. Taking pictures brought him alot of happiness and joy, that some other aspects of his life often didn't. He stood five foot ten inches tall, and weighed about 150 pounds. Not overly muscular, but not a wimp either. Nate figured he could handle himself in a fight if he had to. But, then again he'd been in a few fights himself, mostly losing. But, still, he thought he could handle any homeless people or creepy crawly creatures that he might encounter in these places, and he'd encountered quite a few during his trips into these places.

The night sky was dark and the rain had not yet started. The weather people had called for it and Nate had brought along a raincoat and his flashlight just in case. He was wearing his black raincoat, rainpants, black shoes and a gray t-shirt. He had brought along one of his cameras, a digital one because he loved the zoom on it and how it compensated for low light and the possibly lightening that was going on outside currently. The sky lit up briefly and the building in front of him, a five story old apartment building set for demolition. He'd driven his beat up old blue Ford Tarus and the car was now parked just outside the building in a parking lot and he was now proceeding up through the stairs and trying to find a good spot from which to grab shot of lightening with the background of the buildings and the skyline. The rain was picking up now, he could tell because he heard the pitter patter fo the rain drops on the outside of the building.

He bounded up the staircases, feet clanking on the stairs and his eyes saw an open window at the end of a long hallway. He walked down the hallway and glanced at the window, he brown eyes eyes looking through the view screen of his camera and waiting for the lightening to strike again. When he did, he pressed his shutter button and took several pictures. He looked at the camera and frowned,"Damn. This isn't working. I have to get up higher. Thus, frowning some more, he looke for the next set of stairs up to the top floor of the building. This required that he go through several doorways, some with old rusted oors on them, which he pushed open and walked into darkened stairways, long devoid of electricity.

Nate turned on his flashlight and though it shone brightly as he began to climb the stairs, the light soon faded and died. He frowned some more and grumbled,"What the hell? These are new freakin' batteries! You gotta be freakin' kiddin' me here! Stupid Energizer bunny. Oh yeah they keep going and going until you're in a dark stairway whit no clue which way is up or down and there's a storm outside! Yeah, what then! You got nothing rabbit! Nothing!" He spoke as if the bunny was going to respond. Nate looked to his left and his right, but saw only black with the occasional brightening of the stairwell from the lightening, but it was not enough for him to move but one or steps up. He couldn't do this. Not without his light. It seemed that he simply wasn't going to get out of this situation.

[Seravee]

Jane was startled awake by a slamming door from somewhere deep within the apartment building. Contrary to popular belief, ghosts did have the ability to sleep. In fact, it was one of Jane's most common activities. It helped her pass the time, as there was not much else to do in the large, empty building. Of course, the phrase 'to pass the time' suggests that Jane was waiting for something exciting, or that something better would soon be upon her. It seemed that was not the case. Rather, all Jane had to wait for was the destruction of the building, and when that happened, there was no telling what would happen to her.

The young woman had first heard of the apartment's closing two years previous. First she had noticed the tenants moving out, one by one, and no one else moving in to replace them. When the men began to file in with their hardhats and blue prints, she knew immediately that something was wrong. It took her only a couple hours of lurking to realize what was happening. The apartments were outdated, but they rest on a very important (and expensive) piece of land. So it was decided to destroy the building and rebuild something more elaborate and modern. It seemed the perfect plan, except that they did not know one important detail. But how could they know? How could they know that Jane's spirit was unable to leave the apartment property. After only a few moments across the boundary line, she found herself incredibly exhausted with a severe headache. The only way to counter the effects was to return to the apartment. In the apartment, she felt strong. What would happen to her if they were to destroy it? From then on, she had done her best to hinder their demolition attempts - messing with their equipment and hiding their tools. For a while, she thought it had worked, and that they would leave for good. But she had been wrong.

She sat up from the pile of cloths she slept on, climbed to her feet, and hurried out the door of her fifth-floor apartment. As she arrived at the railing that surrounded the staircase, Jane was blinded by a small beam of light. Years of messing with the builder's technology had made her quite efficient at it, and with only a wave of her hand, the light disappeared. As the people often did when she toyed with their electronics, the stranger began blaming the batteries. What startled Jane was the young man's voice. He appeared quite a bit younger than the people who normally disrupted her. If he was not with a construction company, who was he?

Curious, Jane turned her back to him and focused her attention on a lightbulb in one of the apartments at the top of the steps. The electricity to the building had been turned off, but with a little focus, she was generally able to turn on a few lights here and there. So she narrowed her brown eyes and stared intently at the bulb. After a few tense seconds, it flickered on. Jane, still transparent to the young stranger, turned back to see his reaction.

[howler01]

And then, a few light flickered on at the top of the stairs. Nate's reaction? "What the? Well, yeah, that's totally cool. Thanks Energizer bunny! Note to self insult the bunny more, stuff happens. Truly, he was a little weirded out. What had turned on the lights? Had the lightening somehow sparked the bulbs to life in a power surge? He didn't think the building had any electricity left...but it may have been loose wiring or something. He'd of course seen the signs that said the building was due to be demolished in a couple of weeks. They were apparently building some high end condo ro strip mall or somehting in place of it. Frankly, Nate didn't particularly care what they built. But, he had to get his pictures in, just for the sake of perserving the skeliton of the place, just before it decayed and ceased to be.

He followed the steps up to the light, still with a very confused look on his face and and he noticed other lights were on in the hallway, seemingly leading him somewhere. Well, this was certainly weird...and worth exploring. Nate followed the few light down the hallway towards what appeared to be a dead end, at least for him. The lights led towards a a balcony with no railing which looked out over the city; and his car, he noted. Unfortunately, to get there, he had to cross a large hole in the floor, where a couple of boards had been placed as a makeshift bridge. Lightening flashed once more and indicated that two ropes, which looked a little frayed and old, had been attached as sort of railings for someone to hold onto as they were crossing the bridge. Nate shook his head,"Of course...because we cant' find any other way to cross something. Let's just build the worst bridge ever. I wonder if the power surge bunny thing want me to cross it or not?" Then, he felt really stupid, here he was talking to himself, in what he knew as an empty building.

God I have hit a new low. he thought. He took out his camera and snapped a picture of the bridge and the balcony from where he currently stood. It was decision time now. Cross the bridge and maybe get the best shot he'd ever get here or ignore the lights and go back the other way? The room where the balcony had been, was someone's apartment, or at least it had been at one time. The holes for the fixtures were still there., he could see how it might have been furnished. He muttered,"Alright, I'll bite. Here goes nothing. and he strode forward onto the makeshift bridge. Almost immediately, he heard the boards creak and groan with his weight. For the moment though, they held him. he walked accords the board, but as he reached the middle the bridge began to sag and it sagged so much that it cracked and splintered the wood where he was walking. Thus, with a loud snap the boards broke under his weight and Nate begin to fall. Quickly, he reached out for the ropes and managed to grab them, but the small hole he'd been expecting extended futher down into the darkened floors than his eyes could see. How deep the hole went he did not know. Nate hung there precariously, arms almost at full stretch. Fortunately, his camera hung from around his neck, but he wasn't quite sure how long he could hang here. Either he'd have to drop down into the hole and hope to not shatter his legs. Or, he'd have to find a way to climb up the other side and move winging like a monkey across the now broken bridge.

He called out, again like anyone would hear him,"Hey You stupid Bunny! A little help here would be nice! Insult the bunny and stuff happens. Or so he hoped it would happen.

[Seravee]

Jane regarded the scene with her head tilted slightly to the side, a quizzical expression on her face. What was the young man talking about? She was familiar with the Energizer Bunny, of course, as it had been around during her time as well. She had seen it appear on television commercials, and it often appeared on posters in the window of a nearby grocery store. But what in the world did the mascot of a battery company have to do with his good luck? Now, even more curious than ever, Jane turned on a few more lights down the hall. She wanted to see how far she could push him, and decide what his intentions really were. Was it a game to her? Perhaps, as most things that she did since her death were merely games. But this stranger had truly sparked her curiosity, and this time, more than ever, she wanted to know what he was up to.

As he reached the small bridge to the balcony, he made a comment about the ‘power surge bunny thing.’ She supposed that was a reference to her, and her turning on and off of the already disabled lightbulbs. The fact that he knew something strange was going on was enough for her to take pause. In the past, the people she messed with were genuinely convinced it was simple technological malfunctions or pure bad luck. Sure, there were jokes about the building being haunted, but those same jokes had existed while she was still living. It concerned her that she was giving out too many hints. What would happen if she revealed herself to him? She had never revealed herself to anyone before, for fear of being made a spectacle of. Immediately she turned and went to shut the lightbulbs off, but the stranger was already making his way across the bridge. Too late now.

Then there was the snap, and she watched, horrified, as the young man plummeted downward. To her relief, he managed to catch himself on the rope. But that did not mean he was out of the woods yet. As he dangled there, Jane realized he was going to have a difficult time getting himself back up. Guilt gripped her. It was her fault that he was in that position, and she knew she had to do something. But what could she do that would not also give her away? An idea suddenly came, and the ghost turned on her heel and sprinted down the hallway to another empty apartment. There, construction workers had piled a stack of 4x4s, probably to use as bridges across great gaps as they came across them. She selected one from the top of the pile, gave a great heave, and began to drag it back to where the man hung.

As she pulled, the physical exertion made it difficult to control her abilities. Generally, it was quite easy for her to maintain her transparency. But as she tugged the 4x4 across the floor, down the hall and back into the apartment where the stranger was, she felt herself flickering in and out of focus. To anyone watching, it would appear as if the wood was inching closer to the hole by itself. And occasionally, if one looked closely enough, he or she would be able to make out the faded figure of a young woman, dressed in black leggings and an oversized neon purple crewneck sweatshirt. Jane neared the hole, and as carefully as possible, so not to bump the hanging man, she eased the wood across the hole. It would be up to him to climb the rope high enough to reach the wood, but when he did, it would be a strong, steady bridge for him to cross with.

[howler01]

Nathan hung there and wondered how long he could hold out. Well, this sucked. Nate tried to pull himself up from where he hung, but only succeeded in seeing that he could only pull himself up enough to see the other side of the hole. But, the sound of something dragging on the floor caught his attention. He hung there and saw the board come dragging across the floor, but just for a second, he thought he saw a girl, dressed in a random sweater. No,no that couldn't be. Now, Nate was more curious and a little scared than anything. But, hey the board was getting clower and sliding over the hole. The girl had been dragging it al along, and she'd been the one turning on the lights.

He pulled himself up and onto the board and walked over the bridge. This time, the thicker board held his weight. But, Nate was more curious, and a little scared, which showed in his face, of the fact that something else had been following/watching/assisting him all along. He brought his camera back up to his face and thought maybe I can get a picture of her...this..girl He turned to face the other side of the hole and waited. He figured that she appeared once and she appeared once before, he thought. He said,"Hey! Hey there ...girl, spirit thing! Thanks for saving me. Can...Can I get a picture of you? Maybe? I mean...you know, cause you helped me and saved my life. Nate looked though his camera screen and waited for the girl to appear.

He stepped a little bit closer to the balcony, and he was a little fearful of her. He looked on where she'd sort of flickered in and he body shook alittle bit. Maybe this wan't such a good idea. What if she was here to hurt him now that she had him where she wanted him? Nate was willing to take that chance. He glanced around quickly and waited for her to either appear or not appear, do or not do whatever she wanted. He'd heard the jokes about the building being haunted. But, he'd always assumed that it was by a male ghost, but to briefly see a girl ...that was different. Nate simply just quivered and waited for her. Nothing more he could do. Except hopefully try and snap a picture of her. maybe that would prove to himself that she'd been doing this all along.

[Seravee]

She felt a bit helpless watching the young man claw his way up on to the board, and then shimmy to the solid floor. If something were to happen, and he fell, what could she possibly do? Jane could not leave the building to tell anyone. She would be forced to look at his dead body, knowing it had partially been her fault. Suddenly, a small, nasty thought flickered in her mind. What if he became a ghost too? Her heart fluttered. Perhaps it would not be so bad having another person around? But as quickly as the thought came, she forced it away. He would not be another person. He would be another ghost, just as trapped as she was. And he would face the same sadness, anger, loneliness and regrets that she felt daily. Deep down, Jane knew that even two ghosts in one building would not feel at peace. No, ghosts were always tortured, always alone. That, she had learned, was their curse.

Then the man was speaking to her. She watched him hesitantly, frightened that something might happen to him. Regardless of what he told her, or how desperate he seemed to see her, she could tell he was nervous about it. He was shaking, and the way that he stepped away from her suggested he was not entirely comfortable around her. That was to be expected, of course, as she was a ghost. The last thing she wanted him to do was do something rash due to his fear. She did not want him to get hurt, and in the old, dangerous building, he certainly would. He had to go.

Briefly, Jane considered revealing herself. But then she imagined the startled boy falling back into the hole, and she thought better of it. Instead, she did her best to muster a frightening voice. “You need to leave now,” she growled.