AN: It does feel rather odd to be working on this again. I haven't written in Sam's POV in so long. Please give me feedback guys, I can't stress enough how much it influences my chapters.
Disclaimer: Nothing has changed. I still don't own DP or TAPS.
We ended up leaving the Sanatorium around 3 in the morning, and didn't get to our hotel rooms until 4. Jason decided that we wouldn't analyze until the second night of investigation, so that gave us an entire day to sleep. That didn't really bother me-after all, I am a night creature.
I still had to figure out how I would sneak over to the fourth floor. We were investigating the West side of the building, so it was going to have to be convincing to let me go all the way across to the other side. I didn't feel like thinking about it right then, though; I let darkness sink in and I drifted asleep.
I woke up at around 3 in the afternoon, and I immediately groaned as the sun blinded me, illuminating my entire room. I told you, total creature of the night. After adjusting to this, I felt the need to shower, and then get dressed.
I met the team down in the lobby of the hotel, and we were heading back to the sanatorium again. For the brief car ride, I started brainstorming of ideas so that I could head back over to the fourth floor. I finally settled on me 'seeing a spirit heading that way' and following it. Maybe, if I ran fast enough, I could loose whoever I was paired up with.
It felt like déjà vu as we set up and the lights snapped out. I was, once again, paired with Dave, which was a good thing-he was new, and he probably would not follow me.
The West side proved more active with spirits, so each investigator had his hands tied up with EVPS and thermals. I felt it was the perfect time to go, and so I simply stated "Hey, come back here!" and ran off, leaving Dave completely confused. He shouted after me, and then I think he caught on, because I could hear his faint voice paging Jason saying that I ran after a ghost.
Great, my partner thinks I'm psycho. Oh well.
It took a long time before I found the fourth floor. After all, it was pitch black, and not only am I directionally impaired, but I generally fall. A lot.
Two bruises and cuts later, I finally found the ball that had been left on the floor, and I knew that I was in the right place.
It didn't take long before I felt the familiar thickness of the air and the cool breeze that tickled the back of my neck. He immediately spoke, which confirmed that it was the older of the two.
"Look, before I make up my mind, I have some questions." It wasn't a question, but a demand, and I felt a scowl fall on my face. Thickhead.
"Fine." My teeth were gritted, and I was sure he heard, because his voice became considerably more irritated.
"Who's to say you aren't just trying to lure me out so you can capture me?" It felt like a stab, but I ignored his rude remark.
"If I had wanted to capture you, I would have last night," I pointed out, plain and simply. Was he still convinced that I was after him too? Man, this guy had trust issues.
"Okay, so where and how would you be taking me?" I could tell he was insecure about this, but I wasn't going to target him on being fearful. Angry spirits weren't good to be around. And I wondered why I had even offered to do this in the first place.
"Considering the fact that I'm the only one who can see you, you could just stow away in our van. Or, if you have your own method of getting back to Warwick, be my guest and suggest something." I was pretty sure he picked up on the fact that I was trying to get him to find a different way to go so I wouldn't have to tolerate him the entire ride back, because I could hear a huff of impatience. And he openly stated it.
"Well, if you think I'm that repulsive that you don't want me in your vehicle, I can follow you via flying," he grudgingly stated.
"So, are you going then?" I asked, ignoring his remark.
"You still haven't told me where I would be staying," he pointed out bluntly. I think he felt that I was going to betray him still.
"It's summer, which means I'm not in college right now. I guess I could move back to my house in Amity Park-it's not far from Warwick. My parents moved away and left the entire thing to me, so…" I trailed off, leaving the topic open for him to, as I was sure he would, object.
"Why, does it have some secret lab or something?" Yeah, childish rebuttal. I wasn't sure how old he was, but he couldn't have been much older than me.
"No, it's huge, and everyone thinks that no one lives in it. It's the safest place, unless you'd rather live at the TAPS headquarters," I replied sarcastically, something he picked up on.
He grunted. "Fine." I had waited for a good ten seconds before I heard this response, and by this point I had already thought of what I was going to say.
"Alright, but I have one request. Since you'll be living with me, I need to know what you look like." I was sure he was going to object some more, but instead he did something completely different.
He materialized.
I had seen apparitions before; I knew that ghosts looked like humans, just transparent. But somewhere inside of me, I had created a mental image of an ugly creature with one eye, flaky yellow skin, and fangs. Vivid imagination, I know. After all, it matched his personality.
Trust me, I completely resent saying this-he was, for lack of better word, beautiful. His skin was pale, but it was soft, not ugly and dead-looking. His hair was a brilliant shade of alabaster, and it fell in his eyes messily. And his eyes-they were green, but not emerald-more like an apple, and they held such intensity as they glowered at my face, something I didn't miss.
He had on a black shirt and dark wash jeans, something I'm sure he stole since he seemed to be an older spirit. As far as looks went, though, he looked a few years around my age. He looked human-except for the ethereal glow that encompassed his body, the only thing that let me see his features.
"Let me guess-you were expecting some troll-like creature that was ugly and monstrous, right?" His words cut through my thoughts, and I shook off the blank look from my face and the familiar scowl returned.
"Well, that would certainly fit your personality, wouldn't it?" I couldn't help it. What can I say? I'm a bitch.
"It was a mistake to trust y-" He never finished his sentence. I heard him exhale a staggered breath, and that's when I new something was wrong. Ghosts didn't breathe.
I could see his eyes widen and fill with fear, but my attention was taken by a voice that echoed in the hallway.
"You thought you could escape from me, boy?" The voice was definitely male, dark, sinister-something I had heard before. "Oh, look. He's found himself a human girl to help him." The sickly-sweet sarcasm dripping from his words made me want to punch this guy in the face-but, considering the fact that he had none, I felt it best to stand still.
"How did you find me?" The ghost had choked it out, like he had the breath knocked out of him.
"Many years of searching, talking to other ghosts. But that's all over now, because I have you, and I'm going to finish what I started," the other replied, clearly determined. I saw a bright flash of magenta, and I didn't have time to dodge it.
But it never struck-instead, a hole was made in thin air. Green, swirling mist danced in the center of the hall, and I realized that this must have been the other's transportation device, because the visible ghost muttered "You can create a portal now?" before dodging a ray of magenta.
The older ghost was still invisible, which probably made it hard for the first to locate. I pressed against the wall, trying to avoid the situation. What had I gotten myself into?
The one second of regret that I felt was just what the older ghost had apparently been waiting for. A beam had been shot, directly towards me, and I felt like I was a deer in the headlights. For a split second, I could have sworn I saw a pair of fiery red eyes as I jumped out of the way.
But I had jumped right into the green mist. A twist in my stomach told me that I was falling into the abyss. And I braced myself for the inevitable death that was sure to follow.