A/N: Here's a new story I hope all you guys will enjoy. I've never written a Ghost Adventures story before, so I hope it's quality. Also, I hope the way I portray people from Utah is okay. All I know about Utah, I learned online.
Okay, please read, review and enjoy!
Chapter One
Off Camera
9:38 am, Tuesday, Unspecified date
The Ghost Adventures Crew was just arriving in the small town of Sticks, Utah, where they would be filming their newest investigation. Sticks was a mostly abandoned ghost town with a population of 546 residents. It contained one courthouse, two churches, a few other small businesses, and two hotels. The oldest of these hotels, Marley's Hotel, was the site of their newest paranormal investigation.
The GAC parked at Dusty Roads, the newer, not haunted hotel where they would be staying for the duration of their visit. As Aaron Goodwin unloaded their bags from the back of the van, Zak Bagans, leader of the crew, stepped out, letting the dust stir up under his black boots.
Zak let out a whistle. "Geez, it's hot here."
Nick Groff shot him a smirk. "Regretting wearing nothing but all black yet, Zak?"
Zak shook his head, wiping his brow on his forearm. "Never. Heat's good. Keeps me from getting chunky."
Aaron laughed. "Yeah, that'd make it hard to chase down ghosts." He pulled out the last of their luggage that didn't contain ghost equipment. "Hey, any time you guys feel like it, I'd like to get out of this sun and go inside." He picked up the bags that were his and started towards the all wooden, two-story building.
Nick picked up his bag, slinging it over his shoulder. "Any chance you think they have air conditioning in there?" He looked to Zak, who was staring out at the horizon, being unusually quiet. "Zak? You okay?"
Zak was silent for a moment more, before turning back to Nick and walking over to pick up his bags. "I'm fine. Just thinking. I've got a good feeling about this place, like it'll be a real, genuine ghost town."
He and Nick walked into the hotel together. As they walked through the door, they groaned simultaneously when they weren't hit with a cool burst of air.
"No air conditioning. That's great, really swell," remarked Zak in a sarcastic and exhausted voice. "It felt nicer in the van."
Aaron turned to them from where he was standing at the counter, confirming their reservation. "Then maybe you'd prefer to sleep out there. There's somethin' funky going on with the computer."
The middle-aged woman behind the computer furiously clicked the mouse and pounded her fingers on the keyboard. "That's so strange, this compu'er never gives me any problems."
"If it's as old as this town, it probably just decided to finally go kaput," Nick said as he sat down his bag and stretched his arms. He was still pretty stiff from the long ride up. "Or maybe the ghosts just don't want us here."
The woman behind the counter smiled. "I'm sure i's fine. You can go ahead and go on up to your rooms. I'm assuming' you reserved three?"
Aaron smiled at her, saying jokingly, "No, we actually rented two. Those two over there are a couple."
Zak jokingly punched Aaron in the arm. "Goofball." They both laughed, and the woman behind the counter seemed not to care.
She reached for three keys with room number tags attached to each. "Here're your keys. I hope you enjoy your stay."
Zak looked at his key, bemused. "Wow, an actual key. I'm just used to seeing cards." He gave a smile to the woman and said, "Thank you, umm…"
"Margery," she said back to him, and she shook his hand.
"Thank you, Margery. We'll try not to be too much trouble to you."
"Do you want me to take a look at your computer?" Aaron asked politely. If anyone could fix it, it was him.
Margery laughed a little and shook her head. "Oh, I'm sure i's fine, dear. But thank ya."
With that, the crew headed upstairs to find their rooms. Inside each, everything was old Western style. The furniture and beds looked like they could've been from the 1800's.
"Dude, isn't this supposed to be the newer hotel?" Nick asked Zak from across the hall.
Zak shrugged at him and then started to unpack, laying out his things on the bed. He checked inventory, even though there was no real reason why anything should be missing. Sometimes Zak could be slightly OCD and paranoid. After he was sure that everything was there, he moved his things into the drawers of the old dresser in his room. The mirror attached to it was fogged up and dusty, as if it'd been sitting in an attic for a few years. He smiled a little at it, really enjoying how rustic everything here was.
Everyone unpacked and then headed back downstairs. They were all pretty hungry. The last place they'd eaten was at a McDonalds at 2 that morning.
"Say, Margery," Zak asked politely, "do you know of any good places to eat at around here? We're all starving."
She chuckled and nodded. "There's a diner jus' down the road with a big saloon sign ou' front. Order anything' but the fish."
That made them all laugh, and they thanked Margery as they left. Aaron decided to stop by the van on their way out and grab one of their cameras and a mic. He checked to make sure the battery was charged and then they set out.
On Camera
10:09 am, Tuesday, Unspecified date
Zak walked backwards so he could talk to the camera. "We're here in Sticks, Utah to investigate Marley's Hotel, a building that's over two hundred years old. It's been said this this ghost town really does still harbor some lost souls after all this time. And the most favorite place for all these wandering souls is Marley's Hotel. Later we're going to be conducting our lockdown there, but first, we're all pretty hungry, so we're going to get something to eat."
They continued on to the diner, and Zak was happy to see it had classic swinging doors. He pushed through them dramatically, and posed like a cowboy upon entry, raising laughter out of Aaron and Nick. Their laughter caused the only waitress to look up. She wore classic-themed attire of a red and white dress that came just under her knees, an apron, and cowboy boots. Her strawberry blonde hair was pulled back in loose ponytail.
The waitress approached them with a smile that faded when she saw Aaron's camera. "Hello there, gentleman. Uh, what's he doing with a video camera?"
"Oh, well we're from TV. We have a show on the Travel Channel called Ghost Adventures. See, we hunt ghosts," Zak explained.
"Well, there are no ghosts in this diner," the waitress replied, a slightly apprehensive smile on her face. "So why don't you go look for your ghosts somewhere else. I don't think the manager would like you having a camera in here."
"We can turn the camera off," Zak told her, giving Aaron a look, who immediately turned it off and held it to his side.
Off Camera
10:15 am, Tuesday, Unspecified date
"I'm sorry, we're just here to eat. We're not looking for ghosts yet." Zak gave a small smile. "Is it okay if we eat here, miss…?"
She was quiet for a minute, then pressed her lips to a line. "Sandra. And I can let you eat here if you don't use that camera. If you film in here, my boss might get mad."
"Not a problem," Aaron said, hiding the camera in his shirt, jokingly.
That got Sandra to smile a little, only for a second, then it faded. "Why don't you guys sit down at a table and I'll bring you your menus." She walked away and they took their seats at a table near the front windows.
"She's nice, huh?" Aaron asked sarcastically as he set his camera beside him on the floor.
Zak shrugged. "She's not that bad. She could've thrown us out."
Sandra was back quickly with their menus and handed them each one. "We have one special today, the steak is half off. What'll you be drinking this morning?"
"I'll take root beer if you have it," answered Aaron.
"Water for me, thanks," said Nick.
Zak thought about his answer for a second. "Do you have orange juice?"
"Yes we do. Fresh squeezed," replied Sandra, staring at her tiny notepad.
"Then that's what I'll have."
She scribbled that down on her pad, then Sandra looked at them all. "Okay, gentlemen, I'll be back in a moment with your drinks."
When she walked away, Aaron looked around the diner. "There's no one else here."
"I wonder how much business they actually get," Nick said, thinking out loud.
"We have to leave her a big tip, you know, to make up for the whole camera thing before," Zak told them, not letting it go up for debate.
Aaron smiled. "Or maybe you just like her."
Zak gave him a look like 'what the hell are you talking about.' "Uh, no, she's just nice, okay?" He crossed his arms.
"There's nothing to be ashamed of, Zak. She's pretty," Nick said.
Aaron laughed. "Yeah, she kinda looks like Scarlett Johansson."
Zak punched him in the arm again. "Dude, don't make fun of her just because she made you put your camera away."
Sandra came back with their drinks on a tray and distributed them respectively. "Root beer for the camera man, water for the small guy, and orange juice for black boots."
Aaron and Nick held back their laughter as Zak looked at his boots. "Is there something wrong with my boots?"
Sandra smiled a little and shook her head, pursing her lips. "No, nothing that I can see." She pulled out her notepad. "Have you all decided what you're having?"
"No, crap," Aaron said, looking in his menu for the first time. He'd been too busy teasing Zak to think about what he wanted.
Nick gave her a small nod, and she got ready to take down his order. "I'll just have a burger and fries. Usual toppings." He handed her his menu.
As she tucked his menu under her arm, she asked, "Okay, and what do you want with your fries?"
He looked at her questioningly. "Like what do you mean?"
She glanced up at him from her notepad. "Like, do you want fry sauce or ketchup or what?"
He smiled a little, kind of confused, and Aaron laughed a little. "What's fry sauce?"
She crossed her arms as she explained. "Fry sauce is kind of a signature food to Utah. It's a mixture of ketchup, mayonnaise, pickle relish and a few other things."
Nick frowned slightly at the thought, then shook his head. "Umm, no thanks. I'll just have regular ketchup."
"Yeah, I'll have what he's having, but give me the fry sauce stuff," Aaron added, handing her his menu.
Sandra tucked Aaron's menu under her arm, taking down his order, then she turned to Zak. "And what'll it be for you, black boots?"
He looked at her questioningly. "Do you serve breakfast here?"
She nodded with a small smile. "Yeah, but you'd know that if any of you took the time to actually look at your menus."
Zak smiled a little back at her with a short chuckle. "What kind of breakfast do you have? Anything with fry sauce?"
She squinted at him for a moment, noticing he was mocking her. Revenge for the boots nickname, no doubt. "We have eggs, sausage, bacon, pancakes, the usual. I guess you could have fry sauce if you got hash browns. Utah's also known for its scones."
He gave her a nod, handing her his menu. "Then I'll take a scone."
She tucked his menu under her arm with the others, jotting down his order. "Would you like some raspberry jam with those? We're kind of famous for a raspberries, too."
"Well you're just famous for a lot of things, aren't you?" He nodded. "I'll have famous jam with my famous scone."
She took the last note then walked away. Zak looked at Nick and Aaron, who were giving him smiles and cocked eyebrows.
"Okay, maybe I like her a little bit."
A/N: Okay, first chapter's over. Zak's pretty cute, isn't he? I think he is. Did you ever see the episode where he's at that hospital built by nuns and the ghosts don't like tattoos so he takes his shirt off to show his tattoos? Oh, I like that one… Anyway, I'll end this before things get too creepy. Too late?
Please send me your thoughts on this. I love getting reviews unless they're mean. I'm open to criticism, not bullying. Okay, thanks guys.