"Alright," John murmured, "let me turn on… NIGHT VISION."
John hit a button on his video camera. Seth, who was standing across the hall from him, nodded and gave the thumbs up.
John hit another button, then returned the thumbs up to Seth.
"Welcome," Seth said, now grinning, "to another exciting episode of: SPIRIT FINDERS! Today, John and I are in the Saarne Institute, which had been abandoned years ago. The Saarne Institute is located in Estonia, and served as a hospital for the mentally insane. John and I have travelled all the way here to investigate sightings of what could be a very dangerous ghost- so put down that remote, and get ready for another thrill packed episode of-"
"SETH! BEHIND YOU!" John shouted.
Seth turned, and saw a black figure standing behind him. Seth opened up his mouth to scream, but was cut off when everything froze.
"Okay," said Mr. Burke, holding the television remote, "you boys DO realize that what's standing behind you, Seth, is your shadow?"
"No way, man," Seth said excitedly, "that was a vengeful spirit. If John hadn't seen it, we both could have been dead in seconds!"
"Uh huh," Burke said, rubbing his eyes.
"Of course," John said, "we can easily edit that part out. Might be a little too intense for the viewers at home."
"Right," Mr. Burke said, not bothering to argue.
John and Seth had been sitting in Burke's office, going over a taping of the latest episode of Spirit Finders. The Spirit Finders was, if you hadn't guessed, a paranormal reality show. John and Seth had a surprisingly successful first season, and had filmed the episode for the season two premiere.
"I figure this'll make for a good season opener," John said, "and we only had to travel half way around the globe for this footage."
"Right, well, we have some business to discuss first," Burke said, "especially about your new time slot."
"Woah woah," Seth began, "what the heck do you mean, new time slot?"
"Well," Burke began, "your reruns will air midnights on Saturday, Wednesday, and Thursday instead of the usual six p.m."
"I can dig it," Seth smiled, "the whole midnight creepiness vibe. What about the new episodes?"
Burke rubbed his face and sighed, which usually meant he was feeling stressed. Burke sighed, then pushed a button on his desk.
"Laura, could you send up Lucky, please?" Burke asked.
"Of course," came the reply.
Moments later, a relatively good-looking man with blonde hair stepped inside Burke's office.
"Hey, Burke, what can I do for 'ya?" he asked.
"Boys," Burke began, "this is Lucky. He'll be hosting a new music reality show, focusing on independent artists all around the city- he will be taking over your time slot."
"So what's our new time slot?" John asked.
"Well," Burke said, a little hesitantly, "unless you can come up with a better pilot episode, there won't be a new time slot."
"Unbelievable!" Seth shouted, slamming his apartment door open.
John stormed in behind him.
"After all we've done for that sleazebag, he just gives us the boot?" Seth shouted.
"Wait Seth," John started.
"I mean, the ratings were so awesome the first season!" Seth continued.
"Seth-"
"I can't believe it! I won't!" Seth shouted.
"SETH!" John shouted.
Seth turned quieted, then looked at John.
"Listen," John said, "Burke told us if we come up with a better pilot episode, we'll get a new time slot."
"How can we get a better episode?" Seth demanded.
"Not sure," John said, flipping on the TV, "not sure."
The two said nothing for a while.
That's when it happened- MTV cribs came on.
"Hey Seth," John said, "look at this."
Kong studios- home to some band. Neither John nor Seth picked up on the name- they just picked up on one thing- the statue of Pazuzu on top of the studio. Seth paused the TV, then turned to John.
"Google Kong Studios," Seth told John, "quick, quick!"
John turned on his laptop, and googled as fast as he could manage.
"It's home to the band Gorillaz," John said, "and it's located in England."
"Where, in England?" Seth asked.
"A place called Essex," John replied.
"Book us-"
"Two tickets there, first class, already done," John said triumphantly, "but it cost us the rest of our budget."
"That's alright," Seth said, "it'll be worth it."
Seth turned back to the TV, and fixated his eyes on the statue of Pazuzu. Something was in there, alright. And he was going to find out what.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The Gorillaz will be in the next chapter, which I'll have out soon. For those of you wondering, the statue you see on Kong Studios and Plastic Beach, as well as on the cover of D-Sides, is really called Pazuzu. Pazuzu was also in the movie The Exorcist- it was allegedly a real demon, if you believe in those things. Also, the Saarne institute at the beginning is a reference to the movie Orphan- I'm not sure if it's real or not. You may have noticed another couple of references too, but anyway, I hope you enjoyed. The following chapters will be a lot longer than this prologue, and there should be about… eh, 3 or 4 more. Hope you enjoyed reading!