Paranormal Trip

I bopped my head along to my iPod, the one thing I had snuck in with me as a way to keep myself entertained on the trip up, and to keep my nerves down. I had one headphone out for Taylor to listen to, since she was the only one who actually liked music. Peter found most music annoying, and the others just seemed to hate the sound of the music I had. Next to me Heather was holding a camera and talking about when the sun went down.
“If something starts pushing at you, shoving at you, coming at you, where are you going to go?” I heard Katrina ask making my head turn towards her. “I mean, it’s a scary thought to be all alone.” Katrina said making me look to the angel she had with her. I had always known that the group had angels, but for the most part they always seemed to be in the background, never talking, never interacting. I had once asked Peter about them and he had only said that how every angel acted with their charges, with those who could see them, was different. Some were overprotective, some quiet, some only interacted with other angels. I had tried to interact with the different groups angels before, figuring that if the group knew who their angels were it would make them feel better. But all but one refused to talk, and the one that did talk, she just spoke in riddles that only made sense to Peter. I had given up on getting answers from her long ago, and now only knew their names.
“You are never all alone,” I pointed out making Katrina turn to look at me. “I mean, okay maybe only I know that I’m not alone. But you aren’t either, you have an angel.” I reminded them making Katrina frown.
“But are they going to protect us from spirits? I’ve been touched before,” Katrina said making me simply raise a shoulder in a shrug.
“Mine don’t let spirits touch me because I don’t want to be touched. Yours may let you be touched because they know it won’t harm you. They may let you be touched just so you know the spirit is there. I already know they are there, so for me being touched is just like an unnecessary confirmation that they are there.” I admitted. Katrina just turned back to Heather.
“I hate the advantage she has,” Heather only laughed before turning the camera to Josh.
“Are you freaked out Josh?” Heather asked. Josh just gave her a look.
“What do you think?” Josh said causing me to smile slightly as she turned the camera towards me.
“What about you Claire?” Heather asked causing me to let out a small laugh.
“I’ve faced demons, death, Heaven, and failing calculus, it takes a lot more than a scary prison to freak me out.” I said causing the group to laugh as Heather turned off the camera and Ryan entered the room.
“Okay everyone I have assignments,” Ryan said holding up a piece of paper. “Josh, you are in Red Snyder’s cell,” Josh just gave me a thumbs up under the table and I bit back a laugh. “Sergey you’ll be in the infirmary,” Sergey just nodded. “Heather, you’ll be in the Sugar shack,” Ryan said before looking at me. “Claire, you’ll be in the hole,” I smiled.
“Oh goody,” I said standing up and taking one of the radios, flashlights and cameras. I didn’t need the other readers since I could easily see the activity. The flashlight would be helpful though since I didn’t have night vision.
“You’re isolated, so you should get activity. Three of us will be in tech so we will be monitoring. If we are all in this as a team then I know you’re going to be fine, you’re going to be safe. I know this is going to be intimidating, and I honestly don’t know what is going to happen tonight. But this is going to take PRS to a whole new level. So let’s get going,” Ryan said motioning for the group to follow the same warden we had before. “Claire, hold on a sec,” Ryan said as the rest of the group moved forward. I hung back, motioning for at least Charles to keep up with the group so I could follow later.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Ryan asked. I could hear the concerned tone in his voice and only nodded.
“Ryan, I will be fine,” I assured him moving to quickly kiss him before taking my stuff. “If anything happens I’ll be sure to let you know.” I said holding the camera up to test it out.
“Okay, but if anything happens-“ I just cut him off there.
“You’ll come get me, I’ve heard this all before,” I said turning and following my angels towards the tour guide. I caught up with them just as Sergey was being dropped off.
“Good luck Serg,” Heather said giving him a small wave. I just gave him a thumbs up.
“You’ll be okay,” I said not looking at him but rather at the few ghosts milling about in the room. None of them looked that violent, but I knew appearances could be deceiving. Yet his angel seemed to have a handle on things so I let myself move towards my own spot.
“See you on the flip side,” Heather said as I sat down.
“On the flip side,” I repeated as she and the tour guide disappeared from sight. I quickly turned the camera on wondering why I had never been given a camera before.
“Hello world,” I said turning on the flashlight when I realized that you could only hear my voice. The light shone brightly in the small room showing off the size and the few spirits the place possessed.
“It’s really really late, as in I’m normally asleep right now.” I said listening to the radio squawk with different voices, mostly of the group talking to the spirits I knew they couldn’t see.
“Claire,” Ryan said over the radio.
“Yes?” I said letting go of the button.
“You realize the camera isn’t for your entertainment right?” I laughed quietly.
“I do realize that actually, but it’s so much more amusing this way. But if you insist,” I said standing up and pointing the camera towards the spirits.
“Hello,” I said moving towards them. The spirits turned to look at me and I quickly distinguished names based on, well I wasn’t sure what it was based on, I had never figured out how names came to me. “Why are you still here?” I asked as the spirits traded looks, almost asking who was supposed to answer that question. I was going to ask again when a smaller spirit stepped forward, a man who couldn’t of been more than twenty one when he died.
“We’re here because we have no where else to go.” The man said, and I decided that his name was Jacob.
“If you mean why are we here in this place specifically, that has to do with the fact that we aren’t really allowed anywhere else.” Another man in the back added.
“Why aren’t you allowed anywhere else?” I asked curiously, training my camera for where I could see their faces. But all I saw on my screen was darkness.
“We were the smaller guys, guys who had never been in real fights before. Most of us were sent here for crimes we either didn’t commit, or crimes that involved no actual person like home robbery.” Jacob explained as I turned suddenly thinking I heard a gruff laugh. But it seemed to only be my imagination as no one else was in the room.
“Claire, you okay? The camera suddenly spun,” Ryan said as I turned back to the group of spirits.
“Yeah, I’m fine, I just wanted to see what you’d do if I did that,” I answered lamely. But my blood felt like it was running cold, and that inhibited my usually witty retort. “So were you killed down here?” I asked as the spirits traded uneasy looks.
“We probably shouldn’t be talking to you.” Jacob said looking towards the doorway like he had just seen something he didn’t want to.
“Yeah, he runs this place with an iron fist.” Another added as Peter stepped forward.
“You don’t need to fear him,” Peter said in a reassuring tone. “We can take you to the afterlife, let you escape his wrath.” The men shrunk away.
“Listen to him,” Taylor said stepping forward. “He won’t let anything happen to you. There is another life after this, one that won’t be so boring or scary.” The spirits seemed to shrink again, almost as if they were scared of something.
“They’re telling you the truth,” I said making the spirits move towards me a bit. “If they take you to the afterlife then he can’t touch you. He has no power there,” The spirits looked amongst one another and suddenly Jacob moved forward.
“I’ll go with you,” Jacob said holding out a shaking hand for Peter to take.
“I will too,” Another said, a man named Michael, who took Taylor’s hand. I watched Taylor and Peter disappear with the spirits and spun when I heard a scream.
“What just happened?” I asked into the radio, but it was silent. “Hello?” I asked as Peter and Taylor reappeared with swords drawn. “What’s going on?” I asked a little panicked.
“We need to get you out of here,” Peter said as the others drew their swords and the spirits who had been in the room clung to Charles and Shade. They disappeared with the spirits and I nearly screamed at the sight of the blood covered man in the doorway.
“I told you to leave,” He said in a menacing tone. I pointed my camera at him praying that Ryan could still at least see the camera. What I didn’t know, was that Ryan was paying more attention to Sergey and Heather’s cameras since I had been calm.
“And I told you that I wasn’t going to,” I said moving forward with Peter ahead of me. He pointed his sword at the man’s neck and he inched backwards a bit.
“I already scared your friends out, and you’ll leave soon enough.” The man said as I gulped, the sight of hundreds of angry prisoners around him a little unnerving. I had seven angels, and there seemed to be a lot of angry spirits with him. Though I sensed the anger only coming from him, suggesting to me that the others just did his bidding. But they were unarmed, I could see that at least.
“Claire, start praying,” Peter said causing me to look at him like he was crazy. “Do it Claire!” Peter commanded and I started saying the only prayer that I could think of, the Lord’s prayer.
“Thou who art in Heaven,” I started watching as the spirits took a step back letting me take a step forward. “Hallowed by thy name,” I said repeating the step forward motion noticing that my angels seemed to be getting just a bit bigger and brighter. “Thy kingdom come,” Another step. “Thy will be done,” Just a few more steps to go until the hallway. “On Earth as it is in Heaven,” Just three more steps. “Give us this day our daily bread,” I could see spirits starting to disappear. “And forgive us our trespasses,” I said hearing the radio finally squawk to life.
“Claire? Are you okay? Come in Claire,” Katrina’s voice came out.
“As we forgive those who trespass against us.” I heard some static come out of the radio as I took another step forward.
“Claire, talk to me.” Ryan said, and I thought I heard Josh in the background.
“And lead us not into temptation,” I said pressing the radio to off as I neared the hallway. “But deliver us from evil,” Peter’s sword sliced the air sending spirits fleeing and leaving only the gruff voiced man with a few spirits left. “For Thine is the kingdom, and the power,” another slice sent the spirits back a few feet. “And the glory forever,” a final slice. “Amen,” I said noticing that the hallway was clear. I let out a breath of relief as I turned the radio back on.
“Claire? Can you hear me?” Ryan asked as I started to head back in the direction I came.
“No, in the past hour I’ve gone completely deaf.” I radioed back following Peter towards the tech room we were told to meet in after we were finished.
“Claire, this isn’t funny. Your camera showed tons of shadows and we heard you saying the Lord’s prayer and you wouldn’t answer. I thought you were facing a demon.” Ryan said making me roll my eyes.
“Why is it that I always have to say the Lord’s prayer when facing a demon? I could just be praying Ryan,” I said trying to lighten the mood and hide my fear. I had never faced so many spirits all at once, and it terrified me.
“Claire,” Ryan said, and I could tell he was at a loss for words as I finally entered the tech room.
“Ryan,” I said causing him to jump and turn to look at me.
“Don’t do that,” Ryan said coming over to give me a hug as I used my free hand to give my camera to Sergey. I knew that he would review the footage for evidence later on and I wondered what they would see, and what it would mean for the rest of the investigation.