One Month, One Lifetime

19: Not as Classy as a Ghost

"All we need to do is scale a fence and we'll be in the train depot." Which proved easier said than done.
Kenyon, JJ, and Pearl made it over no sweat. They didn't even worry about ruining all of the equipment they were loaded with. Britton and I were slower on the uptake. I struggled with the heavy weight of a few microphones strapped to my waist that were bent on dragging me back down to the ground. Aside from that, I had never been an avid climber. While my brother and cousins spent family reunions scaling trees to hide from our insane parents, I had taken to disappearing around the corner. It was an easier and more effective strategy then, but in the long run I was left without the ability to climb a tree. Or say, scale a chain link fence into a haunted train depot.
Britton didn't seem to have trouble with the physical aspect of our task. He was tall enough that he could have cleared the fence with a leap if he tried hard enough. Instead, he was mumbling to himself about the moral implications of our actions. Dumb morals.
And as much as I loved the play it safe, think ahead part of him, it was not helping further our cause. And it was starting to get on my nerves.
I stopped him halfway up the fence and only two feet from the top. "We are not going to get thrown in jail. No one is going to care if we are ghost hunting on private property. Just take a breath, calm down, and deal with it." My truly inspiring words must have snapped him out of his panic, because he easily finished the climb. He leaped onto the other side of the fence with deft grace. Again, I could see him being a wonderful ballerina, though he protested the idea when I brought it up.
Perhaps when he owned his own theater he could indulge me and show off a few moves.
Without his height advantage, I struggled get to the other side. When I started flailing near the top, Britton didn't even turn to me with the offer of help. Rude.
Safely in the train depot, Kenyon suggested that we split up to cover more ground. If anything suspicious happened JJ, Pearl, and himself had a radio strapped to their waist to call everyone together.
I didn't bother suggesting that we stick together. Were this a horror movie, splitting up would have gotten us horrendously killed, but this w.   as real life and ghosts weren't real.
JJ and I took the west side of the depot and set about monitoring the sounds.
"What exactly are we looking for?" I asked when the silence became too much to bear.
"EVP. Electronic Voice Phenomenon. Now shush."
We walked along for a few more minutes in silence. I found myself hoping that something supernatural would happen if only to entertain me. For half a second the walkie talkie on JJ's hip spat out some feedback, but nothing came of it.
"Who exactly are we looking for?"
JJ stopped completely and turned to me. She knew that I was persistent and that I wouldn't stop until I had an answer. That was all she needed to know about me. "According to reports there are a few ghosties that like to hang out at the Depot, but two are more popular than others.
"The Purple Lady hangs out around the bathroom or by the tracks." She pointed to the empty tracks in front of us. "Legend says that her sweetheart got shipped off to one of the World Wars here and broke her heart by ending their engagement before he left. To make his point he chucked the ring onto the tracks. The Purple Lady climbed down to get it, got stuck, and was hit by a train. Reports say she has dark hair and wears a long, sequin dress."
"Purple, I'm guessing?"
"Bingo."
"Our other man was supposedly killed during construction back in 1910. I doubt we'll have a run in with him tonight. He's said to haunt the building, but breaking and entering a building isn't on the agenda tonight. I'm sure Kenyon would if we didn't have you two trailing us."
"Sorry to ruin the fun."
JJ swept her blonde hair behind her ear and adjusted my mic pack. She smelled like cheap strawberry shampoo. "You're only saving me from having to listen to all of his requests. I love that boy, but he's not always the brightest star in the sky when it comes to hunting."
We continued on our way, this time more amiable and chatting as we walked further down the tracks away from the sightings of the Purple Lady.
"This your and lover boy's idea of date night?" JJ asked with a playful nudge.
"I doubt Britton would consider this a date. He's terrified out of his mind, as I'm sure you noticed." After a moment of hesitation, I added, "And it's not a date. He's not my lover boy."
"Tough luck," JJ sympathized. "He's a real cutie. Better snatch him up before he stops waiting around for you."
"He's not waiting around for me." I felt suddenly defensive. Who was JJ to tell me about my relationship, or lack of, with Britton after knowing me for half an hour? "And if he's so attractive why don't you snatch him up?"
"I would but I've already got me one." She held up her left hand to display a modest ring glittering on her pinkie finger. "Kenyon's to chicken to actually pop the question, but he stuck this promise ring on my finger the second we graduated high school. Three years ago."
"Kenyon?" Now I knew she was pulling my leg. I could imagine no reality that Kenyon and JJ looked like a couple.
"I know. I know. I've been ragging on him all night, but that's our style. He's too sweet normally."
Kenyon and JJ? I'd chalk that up as one of the strangest couple I had come across.
Before I could ask anything else about her pending engagement and before she could try and convince me that Britton and I were meant to be, her smartwatch started beeping like crazy. It was a low pitched alarm so it didn't hurt my head, but it made the color drain from JJ's face. She swiped through the programs she had showed me early. With each program a smile grew on her face.
"That's incredible," she said, more to herself than to me. I cleared my throat loud enough to remind her of my presence. She shifted her wrist so I could see the screen.
"Look at all those spikes," she explained in reference to the graphs that translated sounds into a visual representation. "This is us talking. It's fairly regular and nothing to worry about. But here, when we would have naturally taken pauses, the levels of noise are off the charts. Something is trying to communicate. And it doesn't want to be ignored."
I felt a chill run up my spine, like cold sweat defying gravity. "I didn't hear anything out of the ordinary."
"You don't hear spirits with mortal ears, silly. It's all about recording them and playing it back later. We need to get back to the Ghost Bus so I can look through the data."
She switched on the beam of her flashlight to lead us back to the bus. Clouds had blanketed the sky and blocked out the light of the moon. The only light came from the distant city and pinpricks of stars that peaked through clouds occasionally. I couldn't imagine that this was a good night to meet ghosts. If I was dead, I would have wanted to be sleeping in my heavenly bed on a overcast night like this.
Before we could reach the Ghost Bus, JJ's radio crackled to life. This time there was something on the other side. "We've got something on the east side end of the tracks. I-I don't know what it is." I connected the voice to Pearl, though I had never heard her talk before. "We're going to need backup and fast. What is tha-" And as suddenly as the radio started, it stopped. JJ and I shared a concerned look. The fear in her eyes did nothing to comfort me. In fact, it made my guts twist together.
"She said the east side?" JJ confirmed with me. I nodded before taking off after her in a dead sprint. If anything had gone wrong, supernatural or not, I needed to be there. Britton was supposed to be with her.
JJ was taller than me. I noticed that as she was sprinting ahead of me, easily putting distance between us. I wasn't short or slow, but keeping up with her and her long legs was impossible. Within seconds she had abandoned me completely, leaving me in the middle of a haunted train yard without a light to find my way.
I stumbled through the unknown territory with arms outstretched hoping I wouldn't run face first into a wall. Or stumble into the tracks of an oncoming train and become the next Purple Lady. I glanced at my outfit. More like Maroon Lady. I wouldn't be nearly as classy as the Purple Lady in her sequined dress.
I must have been wandering for ten minutes by the time the stitch in my side insisted that I slow my pace to a frantic walk. Without the light of the moon and no visible mountains I had no clue which direction I was walking in. JJ had headed east, but that was minutes ago. I should have stumbled upon her by now.
That's when I heard the scream.
It sounded feminine, but I had heard my brother scream enough to know that pitch wasn't indicative of gender. That boy could make an opera star jealous of his pipes.
But the scream, regardless of who it as, pumped adrenaline in my veins. It triggered my flight or fight response. I hate to admit it, but I wanted to run. I wanted to hightail it over the chain link fence and out of the state. The others could be eaten alive by ghosts for all I cared.
I probably would have too if it wasn't for the figure that turned the corner, brandishing the flashlight on his phone. Forgetting myself, I jumped into Britton's arms and squeezed him into a hug.
"You're alright!" I whispered. I wanted to shout but the sound might attract whatever had caused the scream. "What happened?"
Britton looked pretty shaken up. The color had returned to his cheeks, but he was breathing heavy and walked with a stumbling limp. As we made our way in the direction of the fence I wrapped his arm around my shoulders. So I could be a human crutch of course. I wasn't think about how nice it felt to have his weight on me. To be this close again. The closest we had been since whatever hadn't happened on the apartment roof.
"I don't know," he said, his words as shaky as his injured leg. "One second it. Something. Whatever it was. It was right in front of me and Pearl. Then- Then-"
I wrapped my arm around his waist to offer more support. "You don't have to say anything. Let's get out of this nightmare." I felt him nod in agreement.
We stumbled in silence until the fence was in full view. I worried that with his limp Britton wouldn't be able to scale it. I wouldn't leave him behind for whatever psychopath had ambushed Ghost Hunting Anonymous.
I cursed when we got to the fence. Britton sputtered out a weak rebuke.
"We can't leave them in here." I stumbled to set Britton down against the fence. He would have to wait until I got the others here safely. Then we could escape together.
I swung his arm over my shoulders and turned to stand.
This time the shriek was my own.
Not ten feet in front of me was a ghastly woman in a mauve sequin dress. Her face was a ghastly pale like she had been drained of life. The right side of her body, where the train must have hit her, was a mess of gore. It stained the dress and the hand that was reaching out for me. Grasping like her dead eyes.
The fear froze me. I couldn't move. I couldn't protect Britton. The only assurances I had that I was still conscious was her silhouette slowly approaching and the trembling arm of Britton wrapped around my shoulder, pulling me closer.
I couldn't do anything but scream as the ghost of the Purple Lady came closer. Closer. With her she brought the chill of death until the air was freezing. Closer. She was glowing. Light seeped from her feet with every  stop she took. Throwing shine from the sequins that littered her dress and casting deep shadows that swallowed the world. Closer. Until she was within touching distance. Until the smell of her struck me like a hand across the face.
I paused in my terror.
It was one of those surreal moments. I took a step back from my body to sniff the air. Strawberries. She's smelled vaguely of strawberries. The artificial kind that scented body washes and shampoos.
The light from Britton's phone flickered out. As darkness crept in on us, the tremor in his arm wasn't stopping. In fact, it was getting stronger. Pulling me in tighter against his shaking chest.
I forced my eyes from the strawberry scented ghost to look him in the face. His eyes were crinkled shut, tears leaking from the corners. His lips pressed tight into a smile. Silent laughter echoed throughout his body.
Whipping back around the ghost, I realized she was on us. Blonde hair cascading over her shoulders and obscuring the dress. The slightest hint of Barbie pink lipstick still smeared on her lips.
I threw Britton's arms off of me. Taking it as a sign that the ruse was over he let loose his laughter until it filled the train depot. The Purple Lady joined in without a second thought. She pushed back her hair to reveal prosthetic gore.
I snatched Britton's phone from his hand. He didn't protest as he rolled on the floor, completely succumbed to the laughter. I turned back on the flashlight and shoved it in the ghost's--or should I say JJ's--face.
"You are all so dead."