Amity Park L.I.V.E.

Chapter 2


o.O.o.O.o.O.o

The camera was positioned so it faced the young teenager watching it. A voice from behind the camera asked several questions and the boy answered them accordingly.

"My name is Danny Fenton, I'm 15 years old, and I live in Amity Park, Illinois," the teen said, a blank expression on his face. "I suppose my favorite memory is anything that doesn't involve death, danger, or ghosts - but those are few and far between. Oh, I have to be more specific? Okay, well I suppose there was this one time when I was five and I found a box of crayons at the park."

The cameraman was silent until Danny decided he needed to explain, "They were the 100 pack."

Moving on from the youngest member of the family, a redhead was now on the center of the screen. She, unlike her brother, actively engaged the man behind the camera in conversation.

"All I'm saying is there seems to be some repressed aggression here. Your thoughts and actions don't match up and this can be harmful for you in your work environment and family life. Are you aware of Festinger's Dissonance theory? Through treatment I feel you could-"

The young woman was cut off before she could finish. You could practically feel the cameraman's exasperation off-screen.

"My name? Oh! Of course, my name is Jasmine Fenton, please call me Jazz, I'm 17 years old and considering a degree in psychology at Yale. Yes, I was accepted my sophomore year. No, they didn't care that I had three years of high school left to complete, they sent me an acceptance letter before I could even apply to the college, isn't that funny?"

The video was paused to jump forward again. Now a large man and a small woman wearing jumpsuits sat themselves in the interview chair. The man started speaking before the person behind the camera could ask a question.

"Jack and Maddie Fenton at your service: the best ghost hunters known to mankind! If you've got a ghost problem, we can fix it for free."

The couple went on smiling and cooing at each other while the cameraman asked his first question.

"Profit? Why would we take others money?" the woman asked, shaking her head as if talking to a toddler. "Catching ghosts is our job. Why bring money into what you enjoy?"

"Us Fentons are a family of geniuses," the man proclaimed, arm around his wife. "Whether it's inventing the stuff that stops the ghosts or catching them ourselves, we keep Amity Park the safe and happy town it's always been known for."

A click sounded through the silent room as James paused the tape, turning to watch the shocked expressions on his colleagues' faces. They sat around the conference table with varying degrees of astonishment.

"You cannot be serious," one of the seniors whispered, jaw unclenched - something completely untypical for a businessman. "This has to be staged."

"You saw exactly what I experienced," James stated, pointing at the frozen image of the Fenton couple grinning at him with their kids in the background. "I even showed you my time table. There is absolutely no way I could have met the Fentons before this and convinced them to act a certain way."

The conference room consisted of everyone who had been sent out last week to scout an area for a new reality TV show. James was among the youngest - after all, only the newbies were hazed and sent to places like Amity Park - but there were several other relatively new workers gathered. Their boss sat at the front of the table, eyes wide.

If James was being honest with himself, he still hadn't recovered from his state of disbelief yet. And it had been over a week since his two day stay at Amity.

"This is the town that claims they're overrun by ghosts?" a woman asked, obviously shocked.

"A family of ghost hunters," another man chuckled, covering his eyes. "It really is like something straight out of a TV show."

Their boss stood slowly, jabbing a finger at the display. "A chaotic town with claims to link to the supernatural, a dysfunctional family with the two heads focused on an obsession, an eldest genius daughter devoted to the care of the younger sibling in the absence of her parent's attention, and the youngest son, a slacker with the weight of his family's expectations tying him down."

James' boss vibrated where he stood. "This is what we need, ladies and gentlemen. This right here."

There were disbelieving murmurs throughout the room. "But sir," one woman voiced weakly, "Ghosts?"

Their boss wasn't deterred. "Who cares! Whether they're real or not, these people believe they are. That's enough to entertain an audience," he explained, smacking himself in the forehead. "Dammit! Why didn't I think of this sooner? Sure, people think the town's a joke, but they'd still kill to see what it's like inside."

The others were starting to see sense and James honestly did not know if that was a good or bad thing. On one hand, if his idea got approved then he received a huge raise. On the other, it meant spending the next six months in Amity Park.

He'd barely survived the last encounter.

Was he being a little overdramatic? Yes. Did he care? No.

"Amity Park has always been very secretive," the first woman said, nodding. "How are we going to convince them to let us film there?"

"We don't need the mayor's permission or anything," their boss said, waving a hand. Did he look nervous for some reason? Oh right, Vlad Masters the billionaire was the new mayor of the Amity Park. Nobody wanted to cross him. "We just need the Fentons to agree."

"How?"

Obviously, that was their job to figure out because the boss started to pack up his things. "I don't know, say it's for some ghost research or something. Appeal to their naivety."

It couldn't be that easy, right?


o.O.o.O.o.O.o

"A documentary on the activity of Ghosts and how to hunt them?" Jack Fenton gasped, eyes sparkling as he leaned closer to James. He had the uncanny resemblance to a child who was told they would be going to Disney.

"How wonderful!" Maddie Fenton exclaimed behind him, throwing her hands around his neck. Thankfully the gun was absent this time. "It's about time people outside of this town started taking the supernatural seriously."

If James were a better person, he'd feel bad about lying to this seemingly nice - if not a little weird - family. But he was a businessman, desperate for a profit and recognition, and extremely exhausted by his continuous visits to Amity Park.

After deciding that this small town in Illinois would be the location of their next reality television show, his boss put James in charge of production, a job typically given to senior workers. He could practically feel the envious stares of his coworkers as he discussed the "documentary" with the Fentons.

He was given a full crew to work with – around twelve men and women with enough camera equipment to fill a large pool – and informed that an entire week of footage would be edited and showcased every Monday. The crew was staying at the Specter Inn James encountered during his first visit - he kept the light on all night because there was no way he imagined that woman leaning over his bed - and the townspeople had been vaguely interested in why there were so many outsiders with cameras here.

James prayed it was later rather than sooner that Mr. Masters found out about their involvement. There was always the chance he would approve of the project, but James really wasn't looking forward to meeting one of the most powerful men in the country.

"We'd need you to sign these waivers for-" James explained, startled when the papers he held were snatched out of his hands immediately. Apparently, the Fenton parents trusted others too much because they didn't even read through the contract.

James almost felt bad. Almost.

Jack Fenton finished signing off for himself while Maddie checked that their kids were okay to be filmed as well before handing the sheets back with two matching grins of excitement.

"So when does this start? Anything you need us to do?" Jack asked.

"Uh, well," James said, blinking at the adults. "Just act as you normally do. We might be filming around town or in your house 24/7 so just act as natural as possible. There will be moments we might pull you aside to ask questions, but other than that just show us what a day in the life of the, uh, greatest ghost hunters in the country is like."

"Are we allowed to look at the camera or should we pretend you aren't here?" Maddie wondered.

Valid question. The problem was James didn't exactly know the answer. It wasn't like his boss provided him with a list of dos or don'ts. They were pulling this entire project out of their asses.

"Just do whatever you feel you want to. If talking with us is something you like, that's fine." He'd have to hold a discussion with his crew members watching through the window after this. They needed to be warned.

The Fenton parents were visibly excited. "Oh I just know Danny and Jazz are going to love this," the husband announced. "I'll call them right now."

"Jack, the kids are at school, remember?" Maddie sighed.

Jack blinked. "They still have to go to that?"

James was glad he'd brought one person with a camera inside with him because he was sure his boss would love this conversation. It's a good thing he was recording the entire thing.

"Right," he said to the Fentons. "Well I'll go brief the rest of my crew. Just do whatever you were doing before we got here."

James tapped the man next to him who was still recording. The two of them made their way outside where the crew was waiting.

"So what's the deal?" one of the older workers asked, hands full with a tripod and portable filming lights.

James took a deep breath and gave his orders. Three people were to film at the children's high school, three were to gather B-roll around town and interview the locals, and six were required to stay at the Fenton's at all times; two would remain stationary upstairs and downstairs within the house while the other four shadowed each of the members. They were to never stop recording and continuously pull aside the members and ask them questions about their life situations.

The group looked at him like he was nuts, obviously none of them wanted to be in this town of wackjobs. James ran a hand down his face. "Look, I don't know how this is going to work out - or if it even IS going to work out - so just, do what you need to and get some good footage we can use."

One brave freshie worker stepped forward. "Should we focus on the ghosts?"

"Focus on surviving," James replied with a look at the Fenton's household. "It's only a six month trial period. For now let's send everyone to their stations and start filming the Fenton's before the kids get back from school. " He stopped to look at the two that would be sent around town. "I know you really don't want to talk to the locals, but interaction is necessary for this."

He heard someone mutter "ghosts" under their breath.

Whether the town was a huge tourist trap or filled with delusional people, the show was bound to be interesting for an audience. James just hoped everyone understood that it wasn't staged for once because, with regards to the Fentons, their life was just too weird to believe they were real people.


o.O.o.O.o.O.o.

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Haunted Town of Horrors.

HuffPost Opinion

Jesseca Desosa (2/12/17)

If you don't know the name "Amity Park," you're living under a rock. The town that mysteriously disappeared two years ago due to a large-scale prank and continuously claims it is haunted by "ghosts" has been the running joke of the US for years.

"We can assure you, despite contradictory claims, the town is perfectly normal if not slightly delusional," the head of Homeland Security reassured the WashingtonRights during the disappearance. "It's a tourist trap for the gullible" (source).

Others beg to differ. Youtube star and conspiracy theorist Caitlyn Cline explains her experience: "I thought they were nuts, but these people - they've got guns and legit shields and shit," she disclosed during an interview two weeks ago. "And there were things. I don't know if I want to call them ghosts, but dude, they were floating. Could have been special effects, I don't know. It just seems a bit too much trouble for a prank" (source).

More concerns popped up around the time the town disappeared. Amity Park has been well known for its crackpot claims of ghosts for about three years now, but around two years ago the entire town seemingly disappeared, leaving a crater where it once stood.

Officials say they arrived there only to discover it was a "hoax" and that all photos of the situation were "obviously doctored," but independent journalists disagree.

"I just wanted to know," a high school journalism student from Clutern University shared on her website. "I lived close by so the drive wasn't bad. I wanted to do a story on ghosts and decided Amity would be the perfect spot to film, but-" here she paused on her vlog post to take a deep breath- "it was gone. The entire town, every building was just gone as if it had been blown up. I thought- actually, I don't know what I thought, I just got out of there as fast as I could."

Along with the journalism student's video explaining what happened, she attached a shaky video of what appeared to be a crater that stretched for miles (watch the video here).

Among the other mysteries surrounding the city comes Vlad Masters sudden decision to become the mayor of Amity Park. The billionaire businessman, previously a resident of Wisconsin, moved to the small town shortly after the disappearing incident. His diversion tactics to answering why he left is something to admire and quite possibly fear.

To add to the list of oddities, in a leaked file from the White House the government seems to be supplying money to an organization of theirs stationed within Amity Park - an organization kept off record. They deny all claims of such an organization existing, but it still begs the question about what is going on within this unusual city? (source).

Thanks to Director Sen Malik, we just might find the answer!

Malik and his leading producer of the project, James Conway, are launching a reality television show within Amity Park next week. The new show is said to focus on a family of ghost hunters who "protect the town from unwanted supernatural entities."

It's the first real look the outside world will get of Amity Park! Whether it's falsified or real, we'll see.

Comment your opinions and don't forget to share the news.

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Kay_K Here we go again.

TheStrongT Sounds like fun! But aren't there already shows about ghost hunters? They're kind of stupid.

Samantha-Gal428 My cousin lives in Amity Park. Every time I ask about the ghosts he always laughs at me. I don't know why.

- REPLY 12Lancelot12 Because ghosts don't exist

- REPLY GameOnnn30 Oh really, and how do you know that? Aliens exist so ghosts could too

- REPLY 12Lancelot12 The fuck no they don't. How stupid are oyu?

GhostGal shared this article to the group "I BELIEVE" GUYS LOOK AT WHAT I FOUND!

- REPLY SamIAM AHHHHHHHHH

- REPLY MemeKing2013 I really hope this isn't a joke

- REPLY Don'tTouchDon't_seven MY SOUL HAS ASCENDED

DAN2731 Okay, so story time. My family and I stayed at Amity Park for a night because we got lost on the drive to Michigan last summer (my dad is literally the worst with directions) and the ghosts are REAL. I am not fuckign with you rn. Listen to me, this town is NUTS but for a good reason. We only stayed there one night- the place only has one hotel like wtf- and during lunch at some burger place the ROOF CAVED IN AND A TEENAGER LANDED IN MY FRIES. Now, you're probably thinking how tf a kid flew through a solid roof and lived WELL THAT'S CAUSE HE WASN'T ALIVE IN THE FIRST PLACE. Kids don't glow, people! Nor can they shoot fuckign green laser from their eyeballs! (If I could I would have done that to my sister a long time ago).

But these people, okay, the others in the restaurant are just like "oh hey there" AS IF THIS IS A NORMAL ACCURANCE. And then some girl takes out a FREAKNG GUN from her skirt pocket and points it at the kid now FLOATING ABOVE MY HEAD and the kid just laughs before some huge FLYING ROBOT with green hair yells something through the hole in the ceiling and the kid just disappears.

My mom still thinks we all need family therapy. My dad won't even drive anywhere NEAR the state of Illinois anymore.

- REPLY 12Lancelot12 Fake

- REPLY Kay_K Pics or it didn't happen


o.O.o.O.o.O.o.

A/N: Dates aren't important at all. I'm just pretending like this is Danny's Sophomore year, Jazz's senior, and using the dates of this year.

The recording starts next. Stay tuned- ha!

EDITED: 10/21/18