(A/N): Wohoo! Over 100,000 words! I'm sorry that I wasn't able to post for the past couple days. Friday, I sat down to work on this, but then my sister stole my laptop to play the Sims… I already knew that yesterday was out of the question due to my cousin's wedding, which was BEAUTIFUL! I cried. Anyways, back to the story. Thank you to oOo KitKat oOo, jihanfbtr and Milkamoo97 for your reviews! I do not own Big Time Rush nor do I own the episode Big Time Terror which is included in this chapter. Enjoy!
Chapter 31: Ghostly Activity
Katrina was woken up by a rumbling sound that echoed throughout the apartment. She sat up in her cot, looking over at Katie. The ten-year-old girl was asleep with what looked like headphones on her ears. The teen groaned as she got up and poked her head out of Katie's room. She noticed right away that four other heads were looking out of the boys' room. At the creak of Katie's door, they looked over to see Katrina. All five teens looked like zombies woken from the dead, although somehow, James's hair was still perfect.
"Do you know what that sound is?" Logan asked Katrina over the noise. She noticed that he had a pillow around the back of his head, trying to block out the sound with it.
Katrina shook her head, "No. I thought it would have been something to do with you."
"It's coming from the living area," Kendall noted.
"It's the ghost!" Carlos assumed.
Kendall hit him, "There's no ghost! Now, come on." Katrina followed the guys down the hall and into the living area to find out what the noise was. It was Gustavo's snoring. They stood there, staring at the large man that had woken them up, their annoyance with him reaching the maximum.
Logan threw the pillow to the floor because it wasn't helping, "I thought he was loud when he was awake!"
"How am I supposed to get MY BEAUTY SLEEP?" James asked rhetorically.
"I said SING IT IN THE KEY OF G!" Gustavo yelled.
"He yells in his sleep?" Kendall spoke disbelievingly.
"I'm not surprised," Katrina noted.
Mrs. Knight walked in front of them with headphones covering her ears, heading to the kitchen. Kendall spoke to her, "Mom! Can you believe this?" She didn't seem to hear him as she continued on, getting a glass of water from the sink.
She finally looked over at the teens, seemingly surprised to see them. She yelled out, "OH THESE?" She pointed to the headphones. "SORRY, I GAVE MY OTHER PAIR TO KATIE." She walked back to her room.
"DO IT THE WAY I SAY!" Gustavo screamed. "DAH!"
"We have GOT to do something," James insisted.
Carlos pulled a roll of duct tape out of nowhere and pulled off a long strip.
"NOT THAT!" Kendall stopped Carlos, holding his hands out in a stop gesture, his eyes wide at the thought of duct taping Gustavo.
"You know," Katrina noted, "I like Carlos's idea."
"See, I've got Katrina on my side!" Carlos smiled at the girl. "Who else is with me?" When neither James nor Logan agreed, Carlos got fed up and threw the roll of duct tape to the floor.
"I've got a better idea," Kendall told them. The others looked at him with their eyebrows raised.
The elevator in the lobby opened and Kendall, James, Carlos, Logan and Katrina walked out, the four boys holding sleeping bags and pillows. Katrina was holding a pillow with her good arm and there was a blanket on her shoulder. She was going to take a couch.
"Seriously," James commented, "Sleeping in the lobby?"
"You got a better idea?" Kendall asked.
"This isn't going to be good for my arm," Katrina mentioned. Logan gave her a sympathetic smile.
"What about the Palm Woods ghost?" Carlos still was obsessed with the ghost as he looked around for anything that might be unusual.
"There's no such thing as ghosts!" Logan insisted.
Suddenly, the lights in the lobby went out and all five teens looked around, wondering what was going on. The doors slammed shut again causing the teens to jump, calling out, "OH!" They stared at the doors, a little fear rolling across their wide eyes. There was a creaking sound and they moved their heads slowly back to the front to find out what was going on.
An arm reached out from a doorway, holding a lighted candle.
"GET THE GHOST!" Carlos yelled. The four boys ran forward to attack who they thought was the ghost with pillows. Katrina hung back because of three reasons. One, she didn't want to get in trouble if it wasn't a ghost. Two, if it was a ghost, she'd be able to get away faster. And three, she couldn't really do much damage with a broken arm anyways. She watched as the guys beat up the man with their pillows.
Eventually, they all stood up and they recognized the man as Mr. Bitters. Katrina stepped forward to join the group.
"Mr. Bitters?" Kendall spoke with a little question to his voice.
"You're the ghost?" Carlos looked surprised.
Mr. Bitters gestured for them to be quiet, "Keep your voice down. If people hear ghost, then people move out. And if people move out, there'll be no more Palm Woods."
"But there isn't a ghost!" Logan pointed out. "This is just a power outage." Kendall gestured to Logan as if agreeing with him and trying to get Carlos to see some sense. "There's nothing to be scared of."
Katrina's eyes went wide, "Why did you have to say that?"
There was a scraping sound behind Kendall, Carlos and Katrina followed by a crash. All of them jumped and looked behind them to find a broken vase on the floor. The pieces were spread on the floor in an odd way. They followed the path of the broken pieces with their eyes to find a sculpture made up of the Palm Woods's lobby's furniture. Sitting on top of it was a random lantern.
"Who did that?" Carlos asked. The entire group looked scared as they stared at the makeshift sculpture.
Suddenly, two more doors slammed shut and that was enough to make the group start their screaming. James picked up Katrina and threw her over his shoulder before she could complain.
"James!" Katrina called to him, trying to prop herself up so she wasn't stuck staring at his butt. "It's my arm that's broken! Not my leg!"
"I'm saving you from the ghost!" James defended his actions as he ran up the stairs, deciding that the elevator wasn't fast enough.
Katrina groaned, "When are you going to put me down?"
James ignored her comment, getting to the second floor. There they met up with the others again, running into the apartment.
Suddenly, the boys stopped, James almost dropping Katrina, and screamed. Gustavo was in his underwear, bent over and scratching his butt.
"What is it?" Katrina couldn't see since her head was stuck facing the opposite direction.
She got her answer when Gustavo turned around and spoke to them, "Guys. People are trying to sleep." He shook his head at them before going back to the couch.
The boys stared at the spot Gustavo had been, disgusted looks on their faces.
"Can someone PLEASE get me off of James's shoulder?" Katrina practically begged. This got the guys' attentions and James finally put Katrina down.
"Aren't you going to thank me for saving you?" James smirked.
Katrina smiled sweetly, "Of course!" Her smile turned into a frown as she stomped on his foot. He winced in pain as he grabbed his foot and began jumping around on his good one. She turned to the other three, "Now, I'm going back to the lobby because it looks like Gustavo is going back to sleep. If you want to join me to keep me protected from this 'ghost'," She had put air quotes around the word 'ghost', "Then go ahead! I'm going back either way." She stormed out of the apartment.
The guys sighed as James stopped jumping around on one foot.
"I'm going to join her," Logan told them, "Because there's no such thing as ghosts!" He then followed her out of the room.
James looked at the open doorway for a second before turning to the others, "I'm going to make sure that they don't do something that Camille would kill them for." And then James disappeared out the doorway, practically running to catch up with the other two.
"Do we really have to go after them?" Carlos asked Kendall.
Kendall sighed, "If we don't, Logan and James will probably accidently break another of Katrina's bones by fighting over her."
"Yeah, we have to go," Carlos admitted. The two boys left the apartment to catch up with their friends.
After sleeping in the lobby with, surprisingly, no appearances by the ghost, the five teens went back up to the apartment to get ready for the day. They walked out of the bedrooms and into the main area to find Gustavo waking up. He got off the couch, stretched and spoke, "What a beautiful morning!"
Kendall quickly stuffed Gustavo's suitcase into his hands, "And here's your suitcase."
"Turn by turn directions back to your mansion," Logan added, putting two pieces of paper into Gustavo's hands.
"And a box of fishsticks for the road," James finished, placing a box of fishsticks with the other stuff. He went over to join Kendall and Logan who were facing Gustavo.
"There's construction on the highway," Katrina let him know as she took the spot next to James. "So, I would try the scenic route."
Gustavo looked at the stuff in his hands, confused, before he asked them, "Hey, what's the rush? What do you dogs and the cat do on Sunny Saturdays?"
"Well," Carlos jumped in from the kitchen to stand next to Logan. There was a tripod on his shoulder that was attached to a video camera. "I'm going ghost hunting to prove to Logan that the Palm Woods ghost is real."
"And I'm going with him," Logan told Gustavo, "To prove that there are no ghosts."
"I'm going too," Katrina confessed, "Because of two reasons. One, I always seem to attract trouble so Carlos wants me to come, thinking that the ghost will be more likely to show up if I'm there which means he'd be able to prove his point to Logan and two, I can't do much else with a broken arm."
"And I'd ask you to join us," Logan added, "But I don't want to." Logan, Carlos and Katrina shrugged before they ran off, leaving James and Kendall to deal with Gustavo. To make sure that they didn't get followed by Gustavo, they hid in a nearby supply closet first. Closing the door behind them, they were stuck in darkness.
"Okay, can anyone find a lightswitch?" Katrina spoke up.
"I'm scanning the walls with my hands," Logan responded.
Suddenly, there was a crash. It was followed by an uncomfortable silence.
"That was Carlos, wasn't it?" Katrina asked, breaking the silence.
"Sorry," Carlos replied. "I tried to lean against the wall, but I leaned against a rack and it fell."
Katrina groaned, "Why didn't we turn on the switch BEFORE we closed the door?"
"Looking back, that probably would have been smart," Logan noted. "Hey, I found it!" The room filled with light and Logan and Katrina saw Carlos on the floor, tangled up in a rack of mops and brooms. He was smiling innocently up at them. Logan grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet.
"How long should we wait?" Carlos turned to Logan.
"Probably just a few more minutes," Logan answered.
"I feel kind of bad," Katrina told them. "I mean, we just left Kendall and James to deal with Gustavo by themselves."
Logan and Carlos looked at each other for a second before they both spoke, "They'll be fine." The trio stood in the closet awkwardly.
"So," Logan broke the short silence, "Do you mind me asking what hospital you went to after that car accident?" Katrina narrowed her eyes as she glared at him. "You know what? Forget I said anything."
"But how are we going to-" Carlos's words were cut off by Logan's hand covering his mouth. Logan looked at Katrina with a sheepish smile.
Katrina raised an eyebrow, "I don't want to know."
Suddenly, Logan screamed and pulled his hand away from Carlos's mouth, "HE LICKED ME!" Although Katrina rolled her eyes at this, she smiled.
Carlos stood there smiling for a second before he noticed Logan's angry face. Then, Carlos sprinted out of the closet, shutting the door behind him.
Katrina looked at Logan, "Should we follow him?"
Logan stared at Katrina for a second, seeming to be deciding something. He must have come up with an answer because he spoke, "In a second, but first, there's been something I've wanted to ask you for a while now." He took Katrina's good hand in his as he looked in her eyes. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, "Would you-"
Suddenly, the door opened and Carlos stood in the doorway. Logan and Katrina turned to look at him as he told them, "Gustavo's gone! Let's go eat and then set up in the lobby!" Logan threw his head back, groaning in annoyance as Katrina watched him curiously. Carlos looked back and forth between the two before asking, "Did I miss something?"
Logan sighed as he replied, "No, let's go." He walked out of the closet and down the hallway. Carlos looked over at Katrina with an eyebrow raised. Katrina just shrugged her shoulders before she and Carlos left to catch up with Logan.
Logan and Katrina watched as Carlos set up the video camera.
"He's really putting everything into this, isn't he?" Katrina noted.
"Carlos never does anything halfway," Logan told her.
"Is that why he always wears that helmet?" Katrina assumed.
"One of the reasons," Logan replied, "He's also very accident-prone."
Katrina gestured to her broken arm, "And the rest of you aren't?"
"Good point," Logan responded.
"Be quiet!" Carlos told them, "I'm just about to turn on the camera!" Logan and Katrina went quiet as they watched Carlos press the button to turn on the camera. His face then showed up on the video camera's viewer. He started to speak into the camera, "Now, we run the lobby cam 24/7 for evidence of ghostly activity!"
Suddenly, Logan stepped forward and pushed Carlos out of the shot of the camera so he could add, "Day one. Three minutes into the investigation. Paranormal prognosis: Carlos is stupid." It was Carlos's turn to push Logan out of the way. Katrina had to hide her laughter behind her hand. Logan noticed this and smiled at her.
A noise from the front desk caused them to look up. The three teens saw a crowd of people heading to the desk, all of them complaining at once. Carlos moved the camera to focus in on the crowd as the teens watched the scene from the camera.
"The Palm Woods is not haunted!" Mr. Bitters insisted. Logan and Katrina smirked at Carlos.
"My daughter and I did not come here to be woken up by strange noises and slamming doors," a man told Mr. Bitters. Carlos had a smirk on his face as he looked to Logan and then Katrina before going back to the scene.
"We're having an electrical problem with the plumbing and it will be fixed today," Mr. Bitters assured the crowd.
As Logan hit Carlos on his helmet, Katrina spoke up, a confused look on her face, "How can there be an electrical problem with the plumbing?"
"Because the plumbing is-" Logan started, but was interrupted when Carlos shushed him.
"It's a ghost!" A girl from the crowd insisted. Carlos hit Logan on the back of his head as the complaining started up again.
"No no no no no," Mr. Bitters tried to get control of the situation, "There is no ghost! But I will be offering a free in-room movie for any inconvenience." Logan and Katrina seemed satisfied with this, but Carlos didn't seem to be paying attention to anything other than what was on the camera screen.
"Want to watch a free movie tonight?" Logan asked Katrina.
"I'd love to," Katrina responded. They smiled at each other before paying attention to the crowd dispersing in front of them.
The girl that had spoken earlier waved at them as she walked past. Carlos and Logan waved back, smiles plastered on their faces, but Katrina just raised her eyebrows. The two boys looked at each other as they said together, "New girl. Nice!"
"Really?" Katrina commented, "Did you do that after you met me?"
Carlos and Logan shared looks before they smiled sheepishly at Katrina, "Something like that."
Katrina looked confused, but before she could say anything, Mr. Bitters came up to them and said, "What is taking so long? We have to catch that ghost!"
Logan and Katrina sighed, exasperated, as Carlos answered, "Ghost hunting takes patience and poise." The other three raised their eyebrows at this. "So don't pressure me!" Mr. Bitters rolled his eyes and walked behind the camera.
"So much for patience and poise," Katrina mumbled.
Logan stepped in front of the camera to speak again, "It's 2:03 and there are no such things as ghosts and Carlos is still stupid." Carlos pushed Logan out of the camera shot again.
"Wait," Katrina interrupted Logan's laughter, "It's 2:03?"
"Yeah," Logan told her like it was obvious. "Why?"
"Just wanted to make sure," Katrina replied, "We've got to meet Brandon at Penny's Pet Care to interview for the live-in position at four. So, we'll need to get James and Kendall away from Gustavo and bring them over there to help."
"Got it," Logan and Carlos responded. Mr. Bitters just stood there with his eyebrows raised.
"Okay," Carlos got the group back into ghost-hunting mode. "We just press record and look for anything unusual." The group leaned in to watch the scene in front of them through the screen on the camera.
Suddenly, a green blur raced across the scene in front of them. The four people jumped back in shock, Carlos yelping. After a second of staring, all of them started screaming and ran in opposite directions. Katrina ran straight for the supply closet that they had hid in earlier. She had forgotten to turn on the light again. After catching her breath, she slid down the door, finally relaxing.
As soon as she relaxed, Katrina heard a noise in the closet. She tensed up again as she called out, "Who's there?"
There was a short silence and Katrina was about to repeat herself when someone spoke, "Katrina? Is that you?"
It took her a second to figure out who it was, "Carlos?"
"Yeah, this was the first place that I thought to hide from a ghost."
"Of course, pick the dark supply closet," Katrina responded sarcastically, "There's no way that a ghost would find you in here."
"Okay, why'd you pick this place?" Katrina didn't have an answer to this. "That's what I thought. Now, where are you?"
"Sitting on the floor, leaning against the door." As soon as she finished, the door opened and Katrina fell backward, her head landing at someone's feet. She groaned with her eyes closed, a headache coming to her head. When she finally opened her eyes, Katrina saw two blurry faces. "I think I'm seeing double."
There were two different types of laughter as her vision started to get better. She realized that she was wrong and that both Carlos and Logan were looking down at her.
"Are you okay, Katrina?" Carlos asked her.
Katrina sat up, rubbing the back of her head, "I think so."
"Did you need help up?" Logan held out his hand for her. She grabbed it and he pulled her to her feet, accidently pulling her too far so she fell on his chest. She looked up at him in shock.
As if she just realized how close she was to him, she pushed herself away and mumbled, "Thanks." An uncomfortable silence settled between Logan and Katrina as Carlos looked back and forth between the two in confusion.
Katrina broke the silence, "Maybe we should just go get Kendall and James so we can go to Penny's Pet Care."
"Sounds good," Logan agreed as they headed down the hallway towards 2J, leaving Carlos behind.
Carlos waited a few seconds before he spoke to himself, "And they think I'M stupid." He ran to catch up to them.
Logan, Carlos and Katrina were sticking their heads in the doorway of 2J, watching James and Kendall get annoyed by Gustavo.
"They haven't seen us," Carlos told them, "We can still run."
"Is there a way to get them away from Gustavo without him following us?" Katrina asked Logan.
"I'd say there's a 95 percent chance that Gustavo will follow us if we get them," Logan responded.
"So, like no chance," Katrina replied.
"Yep," Carlos and Logan agreed.
"Then, we run," Katrina decided. They disappeared from the doorway as they ran so the others wouldn't catch them.
(A/N): So, how are the interviews going to go? Is Katrina cursed to keep getting hurt? What about Brandon? What's going to happen when he finds out that the guys want to find Katrina's brother, Evan? Find out next time! I'm moving in tomorrow, so I don't think I'll be able to post, but I'll do it as soon as I can. Oh, and my cousin's wedding gave me SOOOOOO many ideas for the Big Time Wedding episode… But that's a LONG ways away! Reviews will make me write faster! Until next time, happy reading!