P.I.E – Limey Rivalry (Part ten – A Possible Turning)
The two men shifted through the narrow passageway, huddling together slightly, following the light made by Bryn's flashlight. The atmosphere was tense, to say the least; they were utterly silent as they walked, expecting a malevolent phantom or savage demon to appear at any moment. Ghost, as a reflex, took out a small gun out of his bag. Although, he doubted it would be effective against anything paranormal.
The air around the two were dense and suffocating. Ghost had to take quiet gulps of air occasionally, none of which were entirely pleasant. Bryn took long, but soft, breaths in and out of his nose. Every now and then, Bryn's nose twitched like a rabbit's, due to the schlocky and unsuitable collections of stale gases around them.
Luckily, any dust that been in the basement had long since settled onto the floor. Unfortunately, both Bryn's and Ghost's movements were churning it back up after years. Despite this, neither of them took notice of it; they were looking straight ahead toward the halo created by Bryn's flashlight.
Ghost was a little unadapt to the amount of silence and dead air, at that moment. Whilst he understood perfectly that they needed to be careful, P.I.E was never the type of paranormal investigators to do their jobs noiselessly. To be honest, Ghost was feeling wearier over the tense ambience of the situation than the actual risk of hostile spirits.
With no warning, Bryn began talking to Ghost over his shoulder. "So, Ghost. While we're here, why don't you tell me a little more about yourself?"
"Are you serious?" Ghost asked, baffled towards Bryn's unexpected casualness. From what Ghost could make out of his face and body language, Bryn seemed just as uncomfortable as he was.
"Of course. I know little about you besides a few of your cases. I'd like to know more about the life you've lived. The life of the great Johnny Ghost," Bryn said, seeming entirely genuine.
"I can say the same about you," Ghost replied.
Bryn smirked playfully, "True, but I asked first." Bryn looked straight ahead again. "I'm curious, Ghost: what made you want to find and capture the spirits of the dead for a living?"
Ghost shrugged while he recalled his past, "I don't know. It was probably the thought of adventure and danger, I guess."
"Did you always believe in the supernatural?"
"Yeah, definitely."
"How? Did your parents believe or did you discover something?"
"Umm… N-no. I don't think they did, actually," Ghost replied, unsure of his answer.
Bryn oohed at the answer he was given. "So you must've learnt later on, then. How did you find out? Did you wander into the woods and find a ghostly hag, stumble across a poltergeist at a sleepover, or were you a victim of a haunting yourself? Come on, Ghost, I'm interested."
Slowly fumbling his thoughts together, Ghost began quickly reliving his memories. Memoirs from his early life paraded across his vision. However, certain visions and imaginary concepts began to expose themselves and Ghost gasped. How had he forgotten them again?
Upon hearing Ghost's sharp inhalation, Bryn – without turning his head – asked, "Are you feeling okay, Ghost? Did you remember something shocking?" Without completely realising it, Bryn had been spot-on with his assumption.
Ghost didn't answer immediately. His head began to ache as he rethought about his childhood. "N-no… No, I… argh." His entire body felt itchy and Ghost lost focus momentarily. His breathing was uneasy and a small amount of Ghost's being began to panic.
Bryn glanced over his shoulder again to see why Ghost had become unresponsive. Although he was almost effectively bathed in shadow, Bryn noticed Ghost eyes. They had seemed to change into a much darker tinge, though Bryn couldn't make out the exact colour. Of course, unbeknown to the British ghost hunter, they were turning a brilliant crimson red hue.
Ghost's memories as a paranormal investigator were quickly slipping away from him, being replaced with much more sinister and gruesome thoughts and desires. All the while, Ghost did not call for assistance or try to run, instead helplessly enduring it. Ghost was about to leave and Toast wasn't around to help him. The last few traces of Ghost willed out a tear and a silent prayer that he wouldn't hurt anyone.
Before Ghost could turn into anything dire, he was brought back to reality by a sudden snapping sound. He peered around to see Bryn's slim musical fingers inches away from his face.
Bryn's features were partly concerned, yet partly mellow. "Are you alright, Ghost? You seemed to be having… an episode there."
Ghost shook his head and blinked heavily. "Y-yeah. I'm fine," Ghost said, unsurprisingly lost for words.
He was awestruck. Bryn may have just saved him. Only ever Toast had been able to coax him away from turning, by using soothing words and clutching him tightly. Yet, Bryn had the capability of doing the exact same thing with just a few finger clicks. Bryn probably didn't even know what he'd done. Ghost didn't say a word and gazed at the ground, thinking about the situation no less than a minute ago. "Who was this guy?" Ghost thought.
Almost as if he had forgotten the whole ordeal, Bryn uttered, "How long is this passageway? Theoretically, we've been walking in an absolutely straight line for ten minutes without any alternative route or other rooms."
Ghost, catching up with the present again, replied to Bryn's complaint. "What if there was some sort of secret passageway that we walked by. Heck," Ghost threw up his arms, within the small volume of space they had, in order to show emphasis, "we could be surrounded by secret passageways."
"Do you know something, Ghost?" Bryn asked rhetorically, "I like what you're thinking." He turned his flashlight to peer at the walls. "Unfortunately, we don't have enough time to waste searching for any. We should consider examining here as we leave."
"Good thinking," Ghost said. "But… What do we do now? Should we keep going?"
Bryn looked into the uncharted dark obscurity, a pondering look plastering his features. Eventually, he just smirked again. "Well, it would be disappointing and incredibly anticlimactic, if we left without seeing anything. Sophia wanted her anxieties removed and I assume you wanted an interesting case, right?" He looked at Ghost. The latter of which was puzzled about how Bryn knew that.
"How would you know I wanted a good case?" Ghost asked coolly, trying to disguise his curiousness.
Bryn took a second to answer. "It was mainly a guess, to be perfectly honest. From what I discovered by searching your company, I noticed that none of your cases for the past three months or so had been noteworthy enough to be spoken about. Not to mention, I noticed how distraught you looked when you discovered that I would be helping you. You seemed to actually be crying."
Ghost looked away, blushing. "C'mon, I wasn't really crying. I was just a little… upset," Ghost vainly tried to defend himself. Although, he realised that nothing he said was going to mask the truth.
Bryn chuckled to himself and wholeheartedly placed a hand on Ghost's shoulder, "To think: when I first saw you, I tried to impress you. Shaking your hand, telling you how much I admired your work. Then, you left and came back with tears in your eyes because I had ruined your perfect investigation. I suppose I began treating you like an equal, at that point." Bryn muttered, "An actual partner," under his breath, which Ghost wasn't able to hear.
"Yeah, sorry about that. You're right." Ghost apologised for his earlier behaviour. Although, from what he could tell, Bryn had already forgiven him long before.
Abruptly, Bryn halted, making Ghost collide into his surprisingly gaunt back. When Ghost expected Bryn to say something, he looked up at the British man. His features were vigilant. He seemed to be looking at something that Ghost couldn't find. "Bryn, what did you find?" Ghost whispered.
"Remember what you said about hidden passageways, Ghost?" Bryn asked. Seeing Ghost nod, Bryn continued, "I think I might have found something to support that."
Ghost perked up, "Where?"
Bryn walked up to the left side of the passageway and looked intently at one of the small stones that made up the entire wall. On closer examination, Ghost realised that it had three tiny marks along it. On top of that, there was a certain thing about it that set it apart from the other stones.
Taking a risk, Bryn pushed on the stone, which turned out to be a button. As expected, the wall that they had both been standing near began to move until a new way was formed.
Ghost and Bryn shared a glance before wildly laughing. After a quick high-five, the two happily strutted to the new corridor. This time, Ghost took the lead while Bryn supported the rear. Despite their excitement, they did both realise that it did look near identical to the original passageway.
Ghost shrugged, "Oh well, at least no one will be too disappointed." The two men began walking off again as the thick wall of stone slowly and eerily closed behind them.