“So, what?” asked Paul. “Are you planning on breaking in there or something?”
Stephen looked confused by the question. “No, of course not. I just want to get some shots of it for the story. The central command was outside of town, that’s how people found out about the tapes.”
“What tapes?” asked Jacker.
“The recordings of the calls that came into the center. Aren’t you guys paying attention? They recorded everyone’s 911 calls, and apparently they had some fucked up stuff on them.”
“How do you know?” asked Paul. “Did you hear them?”
“No, the tapes all mysteriously disappeared,” said Stephen as if he didn’t believe the tapes vanished at all, but were acquired as part of a conspiracy to hide the truth. “Just like everyone in town.”
“I hate this place,” said Rachel. She crossed her arms as if cold even in the midday sun.
“Come on,” said Stephen. “Don’t wuss out on me now.” He got his Canon digital video camera and started to get it ready to record. It wasn’t the type of camera you’d see a tourist use, and was like a miniature version of something you might see on a movie set. It had a handle on the top that Alma assumed was to help it act as a steady cam and Stephen quickly got the machine up and running. Alma had forgotten that this used to be his profession, before he took on the mantle of a ghost hunter.
“Shit,” said Stephen after a few minutes of filming.
“What is it?” asked Rachel.
Stephen closed up his camera and pointed back toward the fire station. “Go, go, go.”
“What’s wrong?” asked Rachel as they all rushed away from Main Street.
“Security truck coming this way,” said Stephen.
They ran around the back of the used book store that they were beside and listened as the truck passed. It moved fast, and Alma saw the alley brighten with yellow, flashing light as the truck drove by.
“Okay,” said Rachel. “We need to get somewhere safe. It’s bad enough that we’re here, but now we’re sitting out here in the open, just waiting to get caught.”
“I think you’re right,” said Jacker. “That truck was booking, man. They’re looking for someone.”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” said Stephen. “We don’t know what’s going on.”
“Damn it, Stephen,” said Rachel. “We’re going to the cabin now. Alma, can you lead us there?”
“I think so,” said Alma. “If you can get me to the elementary school, I think I can get us to the cabin. I remember the kids walking home from school. We watched them from the cabin.”
“All right,” said Stephen. “It’s not far from here.”
They went back to the field beside the fire station and Stephen led them past a small pond and through a children’s park. He pointed up the hill to a building in the distance. “That’s it.”
“Are there people in there?” asked Aubrey.
Stephen squinted to try and see what the blonde bartender was apparently able to discern. He took his camera back out and used the zoom feature on it to get a better look.
“Fuck me,” said Stephen. “She’s right.”
Everyone knelt lower in fear of being seen.
“What should we do?” asked Rachel.
Stephen continued to study the people in the school. “They’re not moving. I can’t see them real well; they’re just shadows in the windows, but Aubrey’s right. There’re definitely people in there.”
“And they’re not moving?” asked Alma.
“No,” said Stephen.
Alma looked at the camera’s screen and saw the silhouettes that Aubrey had spotted. “That can’t be people. They’re just standing there.”
“Well, let’s not take a chance,” said Rachel. “Let’s go around the school and try to make it through the woods back there.” She pointed to the wooded area that sat beside a soccer field. There was another building that looked like a school as well on the other side of the field.
They followed Stephen to the woods where they took a short break. Rachel took her shoes off and complained about not being told there would be hiking involved in this trip. Paul was silent, and barely spoke even as Alma wrapped her arms around his waist. She was thankful for the chance to stop walking for a bit. The cut on her foot was still bothering her from two nights ago. Jacker and Aubrey were investigating the area together while Stephen toyed with his camera.
“Holy shit,” said Stephen. He was sitting on a stump with his camera in his lap. “Guys, guys, you need to see this.”
“What’s up?”
He flipped the viewer on the camera shut and looked up at Rachel, Alma, and Paul with wide, excited eyes. “You’re not going to believe this shit. I can’t even believe it myself. This is nuts.”
“What?” asked Rachel.
“You guys ever hear of orbs before?”
“Yes,” said Rachel.
“I know you’ve heard of them,” said Stephen. “I was asking them.” He pointed at Alma and Paul.
“No,” said Paul.
“Orbs are something that appear on camera when ghosts are around. They’re little balls of light that zip around that some people think are actually entities.”
“And sane people think they’re just little bits of dust that the camera is picking up,” said Rachel, ever the skeptic.
“Oh yeah,” said Stephen as he opened his camera back up. “Look at this and tell me what you think.”
They crowded around him to look at the viewfinder. At first, Alma thought there was a reflection on the screen, but then she saw the mass of light shifting, revealing thousands of tiny globes of light spinning in circles.
“Holy shit,” said Paul as he backed away. “I’m starting to fucking hate this place, man.”
“Wow,” said Rachel as she leaned in closer. “You swear to God you didn’t mess with this somehow? This is real?”
“I didn’t do shit,” said Stephen. “I swear! You guys were with me. This is the first time I’ve looked at it.” He started to take the camera away to look at it himself, but Alma stopped him.
“Look in the background,” she said and pointed at the screen.
“What?” asked Paul as he returned to see what Alma had pointed out.
“There’s a man back there, by the building you were filming. And there’s a time on the clock in front of that bank. I know there weren’t any numbers displayed on there when you were filming.”
“Where?” asked Stephen. “I don’t see anything. All I see are these balls of light.”
“Rewind the tape,” said Alma. “There’s a moment where the lights disperse a little and you can see through them to the building. There, there, stop,” she said as Stephen rewound the recording. He played it in slow motion until Alma said, “Stop!”
A dark shape stood beside the door, a shade instead of a man, but clear enough to distinguish a head, body, and long, thin arms. The brick sign in front of the bank had a time on it that was reflected in the window beside the shadowy figure.
The time was 3:14.
Rachel yelped when she saw him and backed away with her hands over her mouth. “I want to go home.” Her voice trembled. “Stephen, I want to go home. I don’t want to stay here.”
“Are you insane?” asked Stephen. He was overjoyed by the discovery of the spirit he’d recorded. “This is the greatest fucking thing that’s ever happened to us.” He couldn’t stop smiling, even as Rachel was near tears. “You’re out of your mind if you think I’m leaving now.”
“You’re going to get us killed,” said Rachel. “We’re getting into evil shit here, Stephen. Don’t drag us into this.”
He looked bewildered at his wife and then at Paul and Alma. “Are you nuts? This is one of the biggest discoveries ever.”
“Yeah, and it’s a discovery that some people are really serious about keeping secret,” said Rachel. “Stephen, we need to get out of here. That’s not normal. What you just showed us isn’t fucking natural.”