August 13th, 2013
(Aurian's POV)
"Fuck off you block head." I complained as I flipped off the guy next to me. He was almost 50 years old and was hitting on me. My father's dog tags hung loosely around my neck, customly made for his large neck. The rubber surrounding the metal tag bumped slightly against my chest before I grabbed them and dropped them in my shirt.
"Hey!" A man's voice called. "Leave the lady alone!" I turned as the man next to me left, I wanted to thank my savior."
"Thanks." I smiled at the three guys, two held cameras. "Are you filming something?" I asked dumbly. One man laughed and nodded.
"I'm Zak." I shook his hand. He was the one who had helped me with that old guy. "This is Aaron" I smiled and waved the the man on his left. "And this is Nick." Both waved back to me. "We work with the Travel Channel on a show called Ghost Adventures." I nodded slightly as my phone rang with a text. Sighing I glanced at the screen.
'From Lilli
~Some guys from the Travel Channel were supposed to be at the bar to talk about the Pioneer Saloon and the Belle Mine~
"Well damn." I laughed. "You were here for my sister, Lilli." Zak and the others looked confused.
"I-Is she not coming?" Nick asked, shifting his camera. I shook my head and swiped the message away.
"She's sick but I can talk to you about the saloon and mine if you want to go somewhere else." Nodding Zak smiled and told the boys that they could turn their cameras off for now. "Let me just finish this." I nodded to my beer which was almost gone. As I finished off my beer they talked about a place to do the interview. "Done!" I laughed as they all looked at me.
"There was still a fourth of beer there." Aaron commented as the bartender smirked.
"She drinks like a fucking man." I laughed and grabbed my card, paying for the drinks I had. "Every night too." He scanned the card before giving it back to me.
"So boys." I smirked. "Where shall we go for this interview?"
-After the interview-
"Thanks but I have one last question for you." Zak smiled and looked to the guys for approval. They both nodded. "We would like you to come with us to one of the locations during our lockdown tonight. That is if you are up to it." I thought it over for a moment. It would be better than just sitting at home watching TV.
"I'd love to." I responded. "What time?" I asked making Zak think for a little.
"Come to the Pioneer Saloon at around 8 to 8:30 and then we'll decide who goes where." I nodded. "Change out of those heel things." Laughing I realized he was pointing at my shoes. I wore my heeled sneakers, a 'Out Of Control' sleeveless shirt, and black shorts.
"Will do." I saluted them before walking away. My home was only a little ways away and it was barely five o'clock so I had time to shower and get ready for tonight. What they didn't know was that I am a paranormal investigator too.
"Hey!" I turned around and waited for Nick, Aaron, and Zak to catch up. "We didn't get your name." I smiled.
"Aurian." Zak nodded. "Aurian Goode." I pulled my phone out as I walked away from them, logging onto my Instagram. I didn't know if they had Instagrams but I would look. Turns out they did have Instagrams. Quickly I followed them and almost immediately heard the soft sound of their phones go off behind me before my phone vibrated telling me they had followed me back. Shoving my phone in my pocket I switched it for my keys. It was a small lanyard that usually hung from my back pocket along with a pair of sunglasses that were now in the car.
On the key ring was five keys. Two were car keys, two were house keys, and one was a spare for my work. The two car keys were simple. My car and my work car that was provided by the city. The house keys were slightly more complex. One was mine and one was Lilli's. She had given it to me after a fire in her old building where she was trapped and burnt. Since then I had kept it on both my key ring and in my home.
"Finally." I sighed as I reached my driveway. It wasn't a long driveway but I was surprised to see a car sitting in the driveway that was neither mine or Lilli's. Sighing I walked up to the car and looked inside. No one. Maybe they had picked up Lilli and she had let them inside. "Lilli! Who is in my driveway?!" I called into the house as I opened the door, unsurprisingly it was unlocked.
"We're in the living room!" Lilli's voice called back. Sighing I took one more look at the sports car in the driveway before going in and slipping off my shoes next to Lilli's. However there was only Lilli's and a pair of my running shoes.
"Why are you in my house." I glared at my step-mother who sat on my pure white couch. "Why did you let her in?" I switched my glare to Lilli who looked down and crossed her legs like her mother. Lilli was my step-sister but I considered her my real sister. Of course my step-mother had disobeyed my no shoes rule and was wearing a pair of peep toed black heels.
"She came to my house." Lilli sighed, intertwining her fingers on each hand. "She wanted to talk to you so I brought her here." Her head dropped slightly as she looked up through her long, black eyelashes. A horrible tactic that got her off punishment almost every time. "I'm sorry." I shook my head and looked at Cynthia, my step-mother.
"What do you want." I asked, almost growling at her.
"I heard you and your sister are going to be on Television." I scoffed as Lilli smiled. "I'd like to know what channel and show so that I may be able to share the experience." Lilli went to talk but I cut her off by holding my hand up.
"Lilli isn't going to be on television." I said dropping my hand. "I am." Cynthia looked confused along with Lilli. "While you were out 'sick'." I actually made quotation marks with my fingers. "Zak and the guys interviewed me and asked for me to be part of their investigation. Now" I pointed to the door. "Get the fuck out." With that I walked to the stairs and went up them hoping that while I walked away they would leave.
*ping*
Shocked I pulled out my phone and looked at the notification. Zak had tagged me in something on Instagram. Quickly I pulled up the app and went to the picture. It was a picture of me chugging my beer from the bar with the caption saying 'Interviewed Paranormal-Aurian for this week's episode! This girl chugged half a beer in a few seconds! #HolyShit'. Laughing I liked the picture before putting it on the charger.
-After her shower-
Sighing I pulled my skeleton sweater over my tank top and got ready to leave. The Pioneer Saloon was a couple miles away so I'd need to drive there. My thick black hair had been soaked when I got out causing my white tank top to be soaked and needed to be changed. It was around 8:05 now and I was running late. I unplugged my phone and slipped it in my frilled boot before plucking my lanyard off my mirror before running downstairs and out the door. As I locked the door my phone vibrated in my shoe. It was a text.
'From Lilli
~The guys want to know where you are...they are ready…~
I texted her back telling her to give me five minutes and then I'd be there as I walked to my Hummer. It was currently the only thing I had inherited when my father had gone MIA. Most of his teammates thought they saw him go overboard but others said that he had never got on the boat. His old uniforms had been sent to me as well but those I could only look at those.
-At the Pioneer Saloon-
"Hey!" I exclaimed stepping from my Hummer. "I had some shit to deal with at home so I was late. I'm so sorry." Zak smiled and took my glasses so I could grab my bag.
"It's just great you made it." Nick smiled at me and lifted his camera to his shoulder. "Otherwise our beer drinking fans would be super disappointed." I laughed.
"So while you were gone we found out who would go where." I nodded and locked my car before joining them on the sidewalk. "Me and you are going to stay here at the saloon while Aaron and Nick go to the Belle Mine."
"Am I going to need my equipment or are we just going to use yours?" I asked making him shake his head.
"We'll use it for backup if anything goes dead or breaks. Okay?" Nodding Zak pulled me next to him and pointed to Nick and Aaron, giving them a cue to start rolling. "We are here at the Pioneer Saloon with Ar-um." Zak looked at me. "Say your name, beer drinker." I laughed and looked at Aaron who was directly in front of us.
"Aurian." I pronounced it slowly for Zak and anyone else.
"Yeah!" Zak smiled. "Aurian! The girl who can drink a half a beer in a few seconds!" Laughing I pushed him lightly. "Anyways we are here to investigate two places at one. The Pioneer Saloon and the Belle Mine. While me and Aurian here are going to investigate the Pioneer Saloon, Aaron and Nick will investigate the Belle Mine where a plane crashed."
"Always have to go to the spookiest places." Aaron muttered as he and Nick split off and Zak switched his camera on. I also had one but I wasn't going to turn it on yet.
"Now Nick and Aaron have their camera's." He turned his to show that the boys did indeed have their camera's. "And me and Aurian have our camera's." I held up mine as he turned it on us and jiggled it slightly. "Aurian however is not recording until we get inside. So let's get going." It was already dark and getting quite dangerous for Nick and Aaron who had already left to Belle Mine. Once we entered the saloon I switched on my camera and turned it on night vision while Zak checked to see if he had his P-SB7 Speaker on him.
"Shouldn't you have checked before going into the location?" I asked tapping the speaker that was attached to his pants.
"Yes and thank you." He smiled. "But you didn't see that." He pointed at my face and made a funny expression. "None of you saw that!" I laughed as he spun around, pointing at the apparent spirits. I couldn't control my laughter as he bounced around, checking all the cameras and other equipment before getting ready to film. "Now." He said into his camera as he sat at a table. "Aurian and I will sit and play poker at the same table that Paul Coski was shot and killed." I stared at him, my smile lost.
"I-I don't know how to play poker." I stuttered as I turned my camera on myself. Zak smiled and pulled out my chair before gesturing for me to sit.
"Then this will be a fun game of winning." Sighing I sat and let him push my chair in before hooking my camera up to the chair to the left of me so it would catch every move.
"Guys." Jay called through the walkie talkie we had. "I just caught a light coming up from Zak's shoulder and going into the ceiling." Zak's eyes widened. "Should I pull it up now?"
"Yeah just try and debunk it." Zak responded before putting his walkie talkie down and setting up the poker game. I was covered in dots from the motion sensor camera a few feet behind Zak and a few lights lit up my arm from the sensor box in front of me.
"If you want to" I started hovering my hand over the sensor box. "You can come do what I'm doing. It'll light up these lights and we'll know you're here." I smiled slightly taking my hand away from the box. "We're not mean, I promise." Zak smiled at me.
"She's right you know? We won't hurt you." I always did this before an investigation so the spirits would know I'm nice and not evil. "Fuck." Zak muttered. "This cricket, dude." Getting up I followed Zak to the bar to help him find the cricket.
"Shit!" I gasped as the sensor box on the table went off. "Zak?" I quickly walked around the bar, staring at the box.
"Paul get away from the table." Zak didn't move, only stared at the table. A few moments later whatever was near the table stepped away and the box shut off. Sighing I shook my head and walked back to the table and retook my seat. Just then the box went off again. "Holy shit."
"Alright let's play!" I smirked rubbing my hands together causing the box to yet again shut off.
"Okay right now we're getting hits on our rem pod." Zak explained to the viewers. "It's on top of the table that we are getting ready to play poker on." Quickly he leaned forward and waved his hands over it. "As you can see I'm very close to it but not touching the antenna and it's not going off."
"Maybe we shouldn't play and see if we can contact Paul Coski, see if it's him making it do that." Zak nodded and went to grab a sheet of paper off the bar. I couldn't see what it said but thankfully Zak would read it.
"Paul it says here that that you were shot twice in the left side and your body was left on the floor in bad condition for 10 hours." Zak read off making me realize what the paper was. "I'm gonna lay this down here." He dropped the paper on the table near the rem pod and sat back down, gesturing for me to do the same. On the table was also the SB7 Spirit Box, cigars, whiskey, and some cards.
"Trigger objects?" I asked looking at what lay near the SB7 Spirit Box.
"Yeah." Zak responded and took off his hat. "Wear this." Confused I took the hat and put it on my head. "It makes you look more like a guy." I made a small sound and nodded.
"Do you remember this table? This spot?" I asked over the box which sounded louder than before. We waited a few seconds before Zak covered the speaker with his hand and started to speak.
"Can you tell me what kind of liquor this is, Paul?" Zak held up the bottle. "What were you drinking the night you were killed?" Quickly he pulled his hand from the box and we waited for a response. For a minute or two we got no voices so I decided to ask another question.
"What was your last drink, Paul?" We waited for a second before it came through.
...Whiskey…
"Whiskey!" Zak said just as the spirit box was drained and started to hiss. "What the?" Zak pushed his chair back as I picked up the box and looked around it. The battery was dead. "It just killed the spirit box and the speaker." I laughed.
"Are you draining the energy?" I asked staring at the things on the table.
"Paul now that you have all this energy can you make something move?" Zak asked, his chair still pushed about 6 inches from the table. "Come on, Paul!" Zak yelled shocking me. "Make something move!" He was provoking Paul. "Hey Noel?" Zak asked into his walkie talkie.
"Yeah?" Noel answered a few seconds later.
"You wanna come in and overview some stuff with us? Watch in on the spirits?" Noel immediately responded and came in about a minute later. "So now we are going to investigate the crying you heard in the woman's bathroom." Noel and I nodded and traveled, along with Zak, to the woman's bathroom. "Okay now we're back with another person." Zak told the object in his hands. "Can you tell us who this is? Can you tell us his name?" No voices came through as he took his hand off the spirit box so we decided to go closer to the bathroom. I gently pushed the door open.
"Zak." I gestured for him to cover the box and spoke when he did. "Is there a lady in here? We don't mean to hurt you." I smiled into the bathroom hoping the spirit would like me. "We just want to know what happened to you." I gently took Zak's hat off and hung it from my neck. "See? I'm a lady too." No voices came through. "Can you tell us what your name is?"
...Ruby…
"Ruby?" I asked and Zak nodded.
"Ruby." I smiled brighter. "Do you want to ask her a question, Noel?" Zak asked holding the box out to Noel so he could talk clearly. Noel nodded.
"Ruby." Noel looked toward the bathroom. "Ruby do you know you're dead?" A few seconds later the voice, the same voice, came through.
...yeah…
"Yeah!" Zak smiled leaning forward a little. His dust mask was around his neck. Smiling I took the box from him and placed my hand over the speaker.
"We need to help you, Ruby." I addressed the spirit. "Who killed you?" Unfortunately no voices came through so Zak pushed me closer to the bathroom and pressed my hand over the speaker.
"How many spirits are with me right now? How many?" He asked and let go of my hand. Again the male voice came through.
...two…
"What was that?" Zak asked, recovering the spirit box with my hand.
"Two." I told him at the same time Noel did.
"Are you the guy who killed Ruby?" Zak asked before taking his hand off mine. Suddenly the box screamed causing me to jump and drop it. "Aurian? You okay?" He asked picking up the box that was still making loud noises, the scream gone. "Did the scream scare you?"
"N-no just startled me...I didn't expect it." Zak nodded and rubbed my back. "Is that Paul?" I asked and covered the speaker.
...I think so…
"So Paul and Ruby are here." Zak nodded. "Right Ruby?" Yet again Ruby responded very intelligently.
...He's here…
"Yup." Zak confirmed. "Paul's here." I smiled and took the spirit box from Zak, placing my hand over the speaker.
"Thank you so much, Ruby." Her voice didn't come through again but I was happy with what we got. Two intelligent responses that came through quickly and in the same voice. This was amazing.
"Can you tell me how many bodies were buried or thrown down the mine shaft underneath the Pioneer Saloon?" Zak asked covering and then uncovering the spirit box. As Zak went to cover it again it spoke causing me to jerk the box away.
...nine…
"Nine!" I cheered before stopping. "That was so clear! Wait what mine shaft?" I asked.
"Oh that's right you don't know about that. Come here." Zak pulled me to a barrel before picking the barrel and moved it. Under the barrel was a trap door. "Under here is the mine shaft."
"Well why don't we open it? Give the other spirits a chance to talk." Zak shrugged and looked to Noel who thought it was a good idea. "Are you going in there?" I asked as Zak leaned down and looked around in the mine shaft. Zak nodded and went to grab his camera. "Let me I'm smaller." Nodding he grabbed my bandana off my arm, it had been put there just in case, and slipped off his mask.
"Here put this on." He said, his voice muffled by the bandana around his face. He handed the dust mask to me and helped me fix it on my head before sitting at the edge of the entrance. "I'll give you the camera once you're down." Nodding I slipped into the hole and sat down on my butt. "Camera coming down." I reached above me and grabbed the camera, pulling it down and placing it on my lap so it could see.
"Oh my god no." I squealed and handed Zak the camera. "Get me out of here." Immediately I was pulled up and I wiped my legs off.
"What happened?" Zak asked brushing off my hair. "What's down there?"
"Spiders...thousands of spiders." Zak laughed and went to grab a tripod while I finished wiping the spiders off.
"Give me the digital recorder." I handed it to him and he set it up in the mine shaft before shutting the spirits in the mine shaft once everything was set up. "Let's go take a break, get something to drink. Sighing I gave Zak his mask and left to nerve center.
"Hey." Jay smiled at us as I took a drink from my water bottle. I nodded to him and sat down in a chair next to Zak. "I caught another anomaly." After looking at it and debunking that it wasn't dust or a bug I realized something.
"Zak." I whispered looking at the time on my phone. "Where is Nick and Aaron? They should be back by now." Zak looked at his own phone and nodded.
"Hey Jay can you watch over the cameras while me and Aurian drive up to the mine and check on them?" Jay nodded and Zak grabbed his keys. "Alright let's go."
-On the road-
"Woah, woah, woah." I pointed in front of us at the two lights wavering in the distance. "Headlights?" Zak sped up and and to our surprise it was them.
"Where were you guys? We were fucking getting worried." Zak said out of the window to Nick who stopped next to us.
"We went about 300 feet down. It was the craziest, most dangerous thing we've done." Nick said as Aaron took a drink of his water bottle.
"Wait you went down the wooden ladder?" I asked, astonished.
"All of them." Sighing I rubbed my head and fixed my belt.
"Alright let me get this thing around and we'll meet you back down at the Saloon." I tightened my belt and got ready seeing as Zak was about to do a three point turn around on a road that could possibly kill us. "Ready?" Sighing I nodded and closed my eyes as he started to turn. "There we go. If you want you can go home when we get there."
"Well I have work tomorrow so I guess I will." I responded.