"Isn't this exciting?" Chloe was practically bouncing on her feet as her crew unloaded the van.
"Oh sure," Beca placed her heavy camera case on the ground. "Another completely empty house with no ghosts whatsoever."
"Beca," Jesse fiddled with a microphone from his gear. "Why did you sign up for this job if you don't believe in ghosts?"
"Dude, in this economy you take any job you can get." She unpacked her camera and did a few start up tasks to make sure it was working properly.
Chloe, ever the optimist, said. "I've got a feeling about this place. We're finally going to get the proof we need."
"You mean before our show gets canceled?" Beca directed their attention down the long driveway to a car that was pulling up. Out of the car stepped their producer, Aubrey Posen. The high strung blonde was talking to someone on her phone, completely ignoring the small crew that was staring at her.
"What's she doing here?" Jesse whispered conspiratorially.
"Um," Chloe mumbled. "I got an email from the studio about sending her to supervise this shoot."
"Great," Beca finished setting up her camera before marching to the front door of the massive mansion they were supposed to investigate. "A baby sitter."
She pushed open the front door and stepped inside the large foyer. The rest of the crew followed her, each talking a curious look around the place. If it wasn't for the copious amount of cobwebs hanging off of every surface and the blanket of dust, it might have been a nice house.
"Oh this is great." Chloe did a quick circuit of the room, kicking up a cloud of dust in the process. "This will be perfect for the intro." She brushed her hair aside and checked her makeup in the small compact she carried. Suddenly, she spun around, looking down the dark hallway behind her.
"You okay there Chlo?" Beca asked sarcastically. "Getting jumpy?"
Chloe shook her head. "I could have sworn I saw something in my mirror." She checked the compact again but all it showed was her reflection.
"Yes Mr. Voorhees," Aubrey said, still talking on her phone. "I promise everything will go according to plan." She hung up and finally looked at the crew. "Well, what are you waiting for? We only have this spot for the night."
Everyone got into place, Jesse holding the boom mike over Chloe's head while Beca got the camera in just the right spot.
"Welcome everyone to the famous Nicholson estate." Chloe filmed the intro just like every other "haunted" house or "cursed" place they'd ever been to. At this point Beca and Jesse knew exactly how Chloe moved and what she wanted for each shot. Aubrey just stood there, observing their every move with unnerving concentration.
They made a full circuit of the ground floor with no incidents. Chloe seemed disappointed but Beca and Jesse were expecting that. They made it to the second floor, which had most of the bedrooms in the house. They checked each room, one after another but again there was no activity. Aubrey was starting to get annoyed, making offhand remakes about the whole expedition while Beca tried to keep her mouth shut. Chloe was getting more distressed, she knew that her show was on the line and if they didn't get a really interesting episode soon then her entire crew would be out of the job.
"Well," Jesse said after the fourth empty room. "Every good horror movie has the monster either in the attic or the basement." He pulled out a coin from his pocket. "Heads or attic, tails for basement?" He got some shrugs from Beca and Chloe, Aubrey just stood there. "Alright." He flipped the coin and everyone watched as it spun through the air.
Just as he was about to catch the coin there was a deep groaning noise that echoed through the house. Jesse was so startled that he missed the coin entirely. "What the hell was that?"
"It's an old house Jess." Beca tried to sound unimpressed but even she was looking around nervously. "Are we sure this place is structurally sound?"
"What did the coin land on." Aubrey asked, not moving an inch from her spot.
Jesse leaned over to look at the coin. "Heads." As soon as he said it the hallway they were standing in seemed to drop ten degrees in temperature.
"Attic it is." Aubrey said before gesturing towards the end of the hallway. There was a pull cord hanging from the ceiling, obviously attached to a ladder.
When no one moved Beca rolled her eyes and stepped forward. The ladder came clattering down from the ceiling, kicking up a cloud of dust in the process.
"Well," Jesse coughed and waved his hand through the cloud. "Ladies fist?"
Chloe laughed. "Gee thanks Jesse." She took the lead heading up the ladder. The attic was dark, even the light shining from the floor below wasn't making a dent in the gloom. Chloe stepped aside, letting Beca and Jesse come up the ladder behind her. Just as Chloe was about to check on Aubrey the trap door slammed shut.
"What the hell?" Beca said before slamming her foot down on the door. It didn't budge, which only angered her even more. "Open the door Posen! Before I shove my camera up your ass!"
The door didn't answer her. Instead, a cold breeze swept through the room. A dark red glow flickered to life causing the trio to turn look. Against the far wall of the attic was a single candle, flickering in the draft that came from nowhere and everywhere.
"Yeah," Jesse mumbled. "That's not creepy at all."
Chloe took a tentative step forward. The room seemed to get warmed the closer she got to the candle, too warm for such a small flame. "There's something here." She bent down to see more clearly but she still couldn't make it out. "I think it's some kind of book but I can't make out the cover."
"Uh Beale," Beca said nervously. "Maybe you shouldn't touch anything."
Chloe ignored Beca. She pulled open the cover, just barely managing to see the strange lettering in the flickering of the light. That is until the letters started to glow themselves.
"Guys?" Chloe dropped the book but it stayed open, the words glowing even brighter. "I think we need to go."
Beca and Jesse were already working on it, slamming against trap door with everything they had.
"No Escape." The words sent chills down their spines. One by one they looked up, searching for the source.
"No Escape." Sitting in front of the candle was a young woman. Her form was hard to make out, it was almost like the candle light was forming her body.
"Hello." Chloe tried to speak but the words came out as a whisper.
"No Escape." The girl looked up but there were no eyes, just red flames.
Beca redoubled her efforts while Jesse sank to his knees. Chloe just stood there, petrified. The candle girl stood up, walked across the room and held out her hand.
Chloe's hand reached out on its own accord. Her fingers touched the tips of spirit's and suddenly the girl disappeared.
"Chlo?" Beca's voice quivered in fear. "You okay?"
Chloe slowly turned around. She smiled but as she opened her eyes they glowed red.
"No Escape."
To be continued.