Author's note- a big thank you goes to anyone who has reviewed, favourited, or followed this story! It really means alot! I hope you all enjoy this little chapter. I'm also going to upload a small sort of poem that ties in with this chapter- check it out later if you want.

Disclaimer- I own nothing apart from Lucy and the storyline.

Chapter 11

"Alright, now listen up," Jason announced to all of us, "We're gonna start off tonight like this: Lucy you're with me, Grant you're with David, Alex and Richie you two are together." He then began handing out equipment to each pair, "Each pair is getting a digital voice recorder, an EMF detector, a thermal imager and two handheld infrared night vision cameras." Jason passed me one of the handhelds. "Alex and Richie, we'd like you two to investigate the attic first, Grant and David, check out the graveyard and the field beyond it. Lucy, you and I will start off in the forest." Jay checked his watch, "Meet back at center command in an hour." With a clap of his hands, each pair split off and went to investigate their respective areas- Grant turned and flashed me a smile before heading off with David. I turned to Jason.

"We're going to leave you and Grant to investigate the second floor bedroom later," Jay informed me and we walked side by side to the dark edge of the forest.

"Okay," I murmured, "Look, if I mess up again..."

"Lucy, stop," Jason interrupted as he looked at me, "You're not going to mess up. You didn't even mess up last time! For a first investigation you did great. It's okay to have freaked out- no-one holds it against you." His tone softened slightly, "I really like you Lucy and I have every faith in you that you'll do brilliantly tonight. You just need to believe in yourself." He clapped my shoulder.

"Thanks Jay," I whispered, "I guess I'm just really nervous- scared even!" I laughed slightly. "But I am going to go in there. I want to see that spirit again."

"That's the spirit," Jason smiled. We both came to a sudden standstill as we hit the edge of the thick forest. "We only have cameras set up just inside the forest, so I was thinking that we should get in a bit." I nodded in agreement and we silently made our way through the heavily forested area. It was dark- with the only source of light coming from the barely visible moon and our flashlights. The only sounds made were the occasional noises of animals or the crunching of twigs and leaves under our feet. It was eerie to say the least- but I felt strangely at home, relaxed almost, in a strange way...

"Where abouts did the person commit suicide?" I asked gently, breaking the silence.

"Anywhere around here," Jay quietly replied as we entered a kind of clearing. Well, it wasn't really a clearing- there was a massive tree in the middle of a small circle clearing. Looking up at the tree and its many low and high hanging branches, I commented:

"It's a good place to hang yourself." I felt Jason's eyes on me, and I blushed, realising how bad that must have sounded. Before I could even say anything else, a sudden gush of wind whistled through the forest- through the trees. It was odd, as it hadn't been a windy night. I paused, and listened. With wide eyes, I turned to face Jay- I could see him looking at me in wonder. As the wind continued to whistle through the land, I could hear voices- as though they were riding the wind.

"You worthless ugly freak..." The voices would crescendo, before they faded; one by one. I saw a voice recorder in Jason's hand as we listened to the wind.

"Disgusting tramp..."

"You'd be better off dead..." All voices were from different people- all harsh sounding. Before a final, much calmer male voice said:

"Fine, I'll go..." For a few moments, it sounded like a rope swinging in the wind... then nothing. The wind came to a sudden stop, and we were left standing in pure amazement at what we'd just witnessed.

After a minute of silence, Jason said:

"It was like a replay of some sort of bullying..."

"Maybe they were the thoughts going through his mind before he died. Maybe his last thoughts were of some kind of bullying conversation..." I suggested.

"That's a sad thing to think," Jay sighed heavily.

"That sounded like a rope swinging above us as well." I muttered.

"What do you think it was?"

"Maybe he did hang himself."

"You know what, you could be right," Jason agreed, "Well; I'm hoping we caught it on tape." For a little while longer, we stayed- but absolutely nothing else happened. All we got was that one spurt of activity, then nothing. We were still giddy with wonder by the time we got back to center command.

Jason and I were the last ones back, everyone turned to face us as we approached.

"Any luck?" Grant asked. Jay recounted what had happened to him; and it also turned out that both other teams had some intense experiences as well. Grant and David found nothing in the graveyard- but when they got into the field just beyond it, David had gotten pushed. I found that funny. They also heard the sounds of taunting before a loud bang.

"Gunshot." I said when Grant mentioned the loud bang.

"Huh?" They turned to me.

"He or she committed suicide right? Maybe they shot themselves considering you heard that bang," I explained.

"Could very well be," Grant nodded thoughtfully. I saw Jason smile happily at my suggestion.

"Well if we caught anything, it'll all be on here," David said as he held up a voice recorder.

"We hopefully caught ours on a voice recorder as well," Richie said.

"With us," Alex began excitedly, "We sat having an EVP for like, twenty minutes, in that time we got nothing. Then suddenly, we heard those words 'go kill yourself' again! And outta nowhere, this mist just... appears, takes a humanoid shape and disappears." We all look at him excited at all the evidence we were getting. "And that's not it!" Alex said. From his pocket, Richie took out what looked like tablets.

"We heard what sounded like things dropping and scattering on the floor," Richie told us, "As we shined our light on where the sound came from, we saw these pills on the floor. There were like, fifteen of them." He held them out for us to see, "We should have it all on camera. But they just appeared out of thin air, it was crazy!"

"So she died by overdosing?" I asked.

"You think the girl in the attic overdosed on these pills and showed us them again?" Richie queried.

"Well," I began, "So far, Grant and David heard a bang- like a gunshot. Jason and I heard a rope swinging- like a noose perhaps from where he hung himself. It's almost like..." I paused, was I just overanalysing? "Well it's almost like they are showing us how they each died. And it's like we hear the run up of what must have pushed them to committing suicide before we find out how they died. It's just a theory- but it really seems that way..."

"You know," Jason said a moment of silence, "I think you may be right Lucy."

"I have to agree." Grant murmured, "And then after we either, hear the rope swing, the gunshot, or the pills drop- everything goes quiet. Like it's the end. Maybe these ghosts just want their stories to be known- and what they suffered through that drove them to this. So everyone can finally get the answers to those questions of 'why?'."

"Once again, Grant you could be on to something." Jason sighed, thinking, "We only have the second floor bedroom to investigate now. But this could be more dangerous. Grant and Lucy- are you okay to go there in a moment?" We nodded. "Well, while you two are in there, Richie and I will keep an eye on the monitors, and David and Alex can go off investigating the three places we've already investigated; just to see if anything else happens." We all muttered an agreement. "Oh Grant, can I have a word please?" Jay asked before he and Grant walked off away from us. When they were well out of earshot- and away from easy sight- the boys all turned to me.

"Who do you actually think who you are?" Alex hissed at me.

"No-one actually wants you here," Richie muttered spitefully, "You may as well just go, because Jay and Grant don't give a crap about you. You are just some pathetic rookie who messed up the investigation and got some dumb luck finding a ghost that will make TAPS even more famous. They don't care about you."

"Just leave," David told me, "They will be happy you're gone so you won't screw this up for them and hinder us all. You are just a young pathetic bitch. Go now, and don't come back." By now, I was almost reduced to tears- but I fought to keep them back.

"Come to think of it," Richie said with an evil glint in his eyes, "Why don't you go up to the second floor bedroom. On your own; prove that you're not a complete screw up. I hope you die while you try though."

And with that, I began walking towards the house, on my own. Tears fell from my eyes. But I had to prove myself- the boys were right- I could only prove myself if I could do it on my own again. What they said had hurt me though, and I was beginning to hope that I would die as I tried as well. But for now, I had to get on with it and provoke that ghost again.

I pretty much ran up the stairs and into the bedroom of nightmares with a fierce determination that I didn't realise I had. I knew it wouldn't be long until Jay and Grant came back to center command and realised that I wasn't there- so I had to be quick. As soon as I sat on the bed, a guttural growl said:

"Go die!"

Well I hadn't been expecting that quick of a response. But before I had gotten into the room I had my night vision infrared turned on and my voice recorder turned on and recording. Anything would be picked up. And there were a couple of cameras in here- so I was hopeful that I would get something.

"Well that's nice," I provoked sarcastically, "Look, I'm on a bit of a tight schedule- so why don't you quit messing around and show yourself!" As though it actually listened to me, I saw a mist form in the same place as the previous night. I bit my lip as I came face to face with the man again. He didn't do anything- didn't even move. We just stared at each other. For the first time- I got a really good look at him: he was actually quite young- late twenties maybe with thick hair and the ghost of a smile in his sad eyes. Wait? He looked sad. Where was the malice? The hate? Unsure of what to say- I started:

"My name is Lucy, what's yours?" My voice shook with nerves that I fought to control- but to my utter surprise, the man turned to me and a voice filled the room:

"I am nameless. They didn't care about me- about my name. I am no-one." I was a little taken aback by his comment so I asked:

"Are you talking about bullies?" He glared at me with steely eyes.

"My so called friends. But what does it matter now? They told me to go die- they got what they wanted." It then clicked that the 'go die' I had been hearing had been what drove him to commit suicide.

"So you killed yourself?" I kept my voice gentle. I almost laughed at how I was actually talking to a ghost.

"No!" A harsh growl filled the room. I sat on the edge of the bed and backed off slightly. "I never killed myself! The reports were wrong. They... killed me..." For a moment he closed his eyes. Suddenly they flashed open with the malice from last night- the pure utter hatred returning; "And I won't rest until someone pays!" He raised his hand towards me.

"Lucy!" Both my eyes and the spirit's turned to the door where I saw Grant run towards us. He flew into the room and stopped dead in his tracks as he looked into the angry eyes of the spirit. "Holy crap." He muttered. Without warning, the door violently swung and slammed shut- and the faint click of a lock sounded. We were trapped, I started to panic. Grant was trapped in here with a pissed of ghost that I had provoked, it was my entire fault. With extreme caution, Grant slowly walked over to me and I stood up beside him.

"Grant, I'm so sorry," I whispered.

"Go die!" The harsh growl emanated from the ghost just as I had finished talking.

A swirling mist twisted around the ghostly figure and his outstretched hand clenched into a tight fist. A glass seemed to be thrown by an invisible force and smashed against the wall just above mine and Grant's heads. More glass was thrown and Grant grabbed me and dragged me to the floor where we avoided the items. I shrieked as the wardrobe opposite us started to fly across the room and crash against the wall where we were standing moments before. Grant and I had run to the other side of the room- just a few feet away from the angry spectre.

"Leave us alone!" Grant yelled.

"Someone has to pay!" It snarled. The man suddenly ghosted towards us and grabbed Grant around the neck with both of its hands. I never knew that it could even hurt Grant- but we were dealing with a powerful and upset spirit.

"Let him go!" I screamed as the ghost slowly lifted a struggling Grant off the floor. I stood there helpless- there was nothing I could do as my hand would go right through the ghost! Before I knew it, the ghost had flung Grant against the opposite wall; there was a sickening thud as I saw Grant lay there on the floor, looking dazed. Blood was seeping from a small wound on his head and he struggled to stand up without falling over. I rushed over to him:

"Are you okay?" I asked, terrified. He mumbled a response that was barely coherent. He was hurt bad. Gripping onto the desk, Grant hoisted himself up onto his unsteady feet. He took a step and his knee buckled- but he kept upright.

"Look- you've hurt me- you've had your revenge; now leave us alone!" Grant choked out. He was about to say something else, but I heard his voice choke- I looked over to him worriedly to see his hand on his throat. I realised with horror that purplish bruises were forming under his hand when he moved it- they continued to get worse- like someone was strangling him. Grant's face began to lose its colour as he fell to the floor. I shook him and he seemed to snap out of it as he coughed and gasped for breath. The bruises on his neck faded slightly to just a light purple colour, I helped Grant up- but yelped in surprise as I found myself flying across the room to land on my back. Winded, I gasped out and heard Grant yell out my name. I saw him run towards me. Glancing to my right, I saw the ghost with the malignant gleam in his eye and evil smirk; it was then I noticed the wardrobe moving towards me.

"No Grant!" I warned him- but it was too late. He had reached me just as the wardrobe hit me. It toppled over and trapped us in the corner- hitting Grant on the back in the process and knocking him onto me. With Grant straddling my body, I heard him groan in pain. I saw more blood trickled from his head- I could see a nasty looking gash just below his hairline and it was haemorrhaging.

"Sorry Lucy," I heard him mutter as he looked at me, "Didn't mean to get this close to you so quickly." I smiled slightly at his joke as he got up from me and attempted to push the wardrobe upright again. On shaky legs, I helped him. As I pushed, I noticed the blood on my long sleeves- confused; I began wondering where I had gotten the cuts from to create the wounds. But in no time, we managed to get the wardrobe up.

Waiting for us on the other side though, was the – not so happy – ghost. Just as Grant breathed in to say something, he was violently shoved back into the wardrobe- making it fall again. Grant attempted to get up again quickly- but I could see him limping and some dark substance stain his jeans. I frowned; with horror I noticed that blood had stained the right leg of his jeans. We really were in trouble. Pissed off that he had hurt Grant, I began to stalk over to the ghost, but just as I got to him and his outstretched hand, I was knocked out of the way by Grant. From the floor, I could only watch in devastation as Grant was picked up, thrown against a wall- where I heard a crash and a loud thud. With more blood seeping from a wound in his arm, he tried his hardest to get up- but he was just too weak. I watched the mild fright on his face as he looked up at me from across the room. But there was nothing I could do. I winced as he was picked up and shoved into a mirror- which shattered. Glass went everywhere- and I could only look on in sadness as Grant's eyes slowly closed as he fell to the floor. He didn't move- he didn't stir or make a sound. He was unconscious. Grant had put himself in harm's way to save me- what sort of a person was I? Only worried about Grant, I shakily got up and made my way to him, the ghost stared on with softer eyes- glancing back at it, and I saw him vanish into thin air. I dropped to my knees in front of Grant and sobbed as I heard the doorknob rattle. It must have been rattling all throughout as I could hear Jason's concerned and scared voice on the other side. There was a click of a lock, and then suddenly Jay was by my side- his hand on my shoulder. I sat on the glass beside an unmoving Grant as tears streamed down my face.

"It's my entire fault," I murmured. The blood on Grant's head trailed down in unpredictable patterns, it was horrible- to think that I was the cause of this. "Come on Grant, wake up!" I cried, "Please, I'm sorry." Jason ripped something and I saw him press something against Grant's head, staunching the flow of blood.

"Call nine one one," Jay shouted to Richie- who stood wide eyed along with David and Alex. They just stood there, "Do it now you stupid bastards!" Jason yelled angrily at them. I held Grant's hand and cried as he stayed unconscious.

"Will he be okay?" I whispered.

"He's strong Lucy, come on now, he'll be fine," Jason reassured me.

It wasn't long before the ambulance arrived.

Author's note- well this was over 3000 words long! Wow. Thanks for reading guys! I'm sorry, I don't write hurt Grant as well as daisyduke80 does, but I hope you enjoyed this chapter; stay posted for the next!