Chapter 3
The door to the Crestmore house was unlocked, its handle rusty and old. Pieces of it came off in great, rusty petals as Greg pushed it open. It was heavier than it looked, and a creaking sound echoed through the barren house as the duo entered cautiously. Stale air met them while the smell of meat and mold lingered, following like a specter of decay.
“What a charming place,” Greg said, frowning. His words were followed by two loud coughs.
The flashlight’s near solid beam scraped over the uneven walls and the wallpaper (at least that’s what it looked like) was bubbled in places. It reminded them of diseased pustules about to burst. The undulating floor was no better, thumping loudly with each footstep.
BOOM!
The loud noise came from the front door; Greg saw dust settling around its edges as he jerked his head around.
That was way too fast, he thought, quickly brushing off a suspicion that something unseen had slammed the entrance shut. It’s just your nerves, Greg. The thrill of the hunt mixed with butterflies from Eddie. Nothing more…
“So, do you know much about the haunting activity in this place?” Greg asked as his heart rate settled. He took a few steps across the foyer. In his excitement to get ready, Greg had forgotten to look up more detailed information.
Eddie shook his head nervously while looking around. It was dark, and there was no shortage of shadows. It seemed – if only for a moment – that they were ready to leap off the walls.
“N-not r-really,” he replied, voice shaking. “I always t-tend to wuh-wing it.”
“Yeah… me too,” said Greg slyly.
The two stopped in the middle of the foyer. There was a low howl from the wind coming in through cracks in the exterior; it was getting chilly. Greg removed his pack and set it on the ground. Taking out his hoodie, he put it on then placed a hand on one of his hips.
Ahead was a staircase, its narrow throat coated in darkness at the top. Moving the flashlight around, Greg found that its light didn’t couldn’t penetrate it.
That’s… weird… he thought before twisting his head to each side. On the right were the remains of a kitchen – pieces of pots and pans peeking out from the rubble like broken teeth from sore gums. To the left was a large space that looked like it had been a living room some time (a very long time) ago.
Before Greg could say anything to Eddie, something grabbed his attention from the corner of his eye. He snapped his head toward the staircase again.
Was something moving up there?
Greg waved the flashlight around in a feeble attempt to see. It still couldn’t penetrate the darkness. He took a small step forward trying to get a better look, then another, and before he realized what was happening, the base of those stairs was dead ahead, bare wood steps calling.
How did I get here so quickly? I…
His thoughts faltered. Scurried away. There was something moving at the top of those dim and dismal stairs. Greg could see it now: the shade of something unnatural.
He should have fled in terror, but his curiosity swelled.
It beckoned.
Greg reached out for the splintered hand rail, one of his feet lifting off the floor.
It continued beckoning.
Greg’s hand was closing now, about to wrap around the sharp prongs of wood. The tips pricked his skin. Blood started to ooze when suddenly –
“Greg!” Eddie called, slapping a firm hand on his shoulder.
The surprise jolted Greg to his senses.
“Huh? What is it?”
“You okay?” Eddie asked, his eyes locked on Greg’s bleeding fingers.
“Yeah,” Greg answered, nursing his wounds. “I must’ve… I dunno. I thought I saw something up there.”
Eddie looked up the stairs. He didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.
“There’s a lot of shadows around,” he said. “Probably a trick of what little light your eyes are picking up. Why don’t we set up our equipment and then take a better look around? We want to be able to catch any evidence on tape, right?”
Greg glanced up the stairs again. He felt a chill but couldn’t see anything that would lend itself to giving him one.
“Y-yeah…” he stammered softly. Then, as if a switch in his mind was flipped to “work mode”, he continued. “We should set up a standard arrangement then. Motion sensors in as many rooms as we can manage. The stationary video camera can go over there in the corner.” He pointed toward the living room space. “I think we can catch activity in several rooms at once since the interior walls are basically gone.”
“Agreed,” Eddie replied. “I think we should use your phone for any video, too. It has higher resolution.”
“Yeah,” Greg agreed. “I was noticing that ancient brick you carry around. No wonder you couldn’t text much this weekend.”
“Purely nostalgic,” Eddie replied dismissively.
“Well, since we are using my phone, we can use this thermal imaging camera I got for it over the holidays. Kind of cool, eh?”
“For sure!” Eddie replied excitedly, looking at the compact unit Greg plugged into the phone’s charging port. “We can use that on the walkabouts too.”
Greg smiled, snatching his bag off the floor.
“Let’s get to it!”
As the two got closer to finishing the set up, Greg couldn’t help but notice a lot of his stuff was markedly better than Eddie’s. Normally he would have wondered: why such an enthusiastic ghost hunter would not upgrade his gear. Yet, as they pressed on those kinds of thoughts faded, and Greg found the technicalities mattering less. By the time the last motion sensor was placed, turned on, and adjusted, he recognized that if they did find ghosts, it would be like a cherry on top of a sweet prize. That prize being able to spend the night with Eddie, of course.
With everything in place, the two began their hunt. They walked around the house recording video, noting EMF spikes (they were quickly able to debunk them), and investigating cold spots displayed on the thermal imager. That pattern continued for three solid hours, which was enough time to cover the entire property twice. In the end, there was no unusual activity to show for it (at least none that they could remember, Greg’s initial pull toward the stairs all but a whisper of memory).
The duo returned to the living room.
“I’m a little hungry,” Greg said, his voice ladened with disappointment.
Clearing a small spot on the floor, he sat, but before getting out any food, Eddie suggested that they try an electronic voice phenomenon session. Greg would later check the results of the EVP at home.
Eddie joined Greg on the rough floor, and Greg, in a not-too-surprising move, nestled in beside him. Plucking his voice recorder out of the bag, Greg switched it on and held it out in front of them.
“You want to go first?” he asked Eddie.
Eddie shook his head, content.
“Alrighty, here we go. Is there anybody there?” Greg asked, going quiet afterward to give any spirits a chance to respond. He looked over to Eddie, urging him to speak.
“If anybody’s here,” Eddie asked reluctantly, “what is it you want?”
Expecting nothing, the two tensed up when a subtle knock came from a far corner of the second floor. Greg’s eyes were transfixed in the direction of the stairs again. The speed at which they shot over was frightening.
Eddie’s face grew ashen. He could hear his own breathing as he tried to recover some color with a loose smile. It didn’t work.
“Super cool!” Greg shouted, his face sinister with a twisted sneer. It was ominous in the sickly green light of the voice recorder’s display. “Spirit, if that was you, please make another noise.”
Immediately, footsteps creaked across the upstairs floor, sending debris cascading from the ceiling in gentle puffs. There was another knock, as requested. This time it was much closer.
Greg’s eyes started to bulge out from his skull, but he wasn’t afraid. He looked… eager. Cocking his head, he stared at the staircase while Eddie’s eyes narrowed into nervous white strips.
“How long have you been here?” Greg asked wantonly, answered by more footsteps. They sounded just as keen to find him as his face was to see their owner.
Creak…
They had reached the top of the stairs.
“Greg…” Eddie called, but he did not reply.
Creak…
The footsteps were now descending the stairs, each one louder than the last.
Creak…
The smell, that dank and horrid smell had come back. It was pungent, stinging their eyes.
“Spirit…” Greg said as his bloodshot eyes remained unblinking, “if you can show yourself…”
“Greg!” Eddie shouted. His hand lashed out, grabbed the recorder, and switched it off.
There was a low, gurgling sound. Something was trying to speak.
Eddie recoiled, his breaths so heavy his chest was about to burst, but he didn’t know in which direction he should move.
“Eddie?” Greg’s voice cut through like a lighthouse against the dark of a storm.
“Greg?”
Something shuffled at the base of the stairs. There was a frustrated roar just before footsteps pounded back up the steps. A distant door then slammed shut, its echoing sound shattering the dreamlike state both men were in. It was a shame neither could remember what had transpired during the EVP session; it might have helped them both in the end.
“Whoa,” Greg said with a raspy voice. His eyes were stinging. “What the hell happened?”
“I have no idea,” said Eddie, noticing the cobwebbed remnants of light fixtures swaying above them. “But something tells me you have plenty of evidence to review later.”
“Yeah…” Greg said reluctantly, staring at the voice recorder. Part of him wanted to press on with the hunt, this odd feeling in his gut telling him something interesting was happening there. Another, larger part of him was scared shitless and did not want to.
Eddie’s eyes agreed with the larger part of Greg.
“D-do y-you want to pack up and head out?” Greg asked apprehensively.
“No… but, strange feelings aside I think I’m done with hunting for now. Can we just spend some time together?”
“Here?” Greg asked, looking around at the ruins.
Eddie just nodded, saying, “We’re already here after all.”
“Yeah but it’s…”
Eddie tossed him a look that shut him up.
Wow, Greg thought, this guy already has that sort of effect on you.
“Okay, we’ll do it your way Ed.”
With nervousness still choking the air, Greg reached into his bag and pulled out one of his meal containers.
“What’s in that?” Eddie asked.
“Steak, broccoli, and rice,” Greg said, holding the container on its side. He plucked another out of his bag and offered it to Eddie. “Hungry big guy?”
“Nah, I’m feeling a little queasy.” Eddie lifted his shirt up, those abs impressive even in the dingy surrounds. “I grabbed something when I was coming back into town; still feeling it in the pit of my stomach.”
Greg set the spare container back into his bag, opened his, and shoved a massive helping of steak into his mouth. As he chewed, he reached out and lightly brushed his fingers across Eddie’s stomach. He was rock hard but slightly cold.
“Jesus,” Greg replied. “How often do you train your core?”
Eddie smiled again, his bright teeth managing to fill the room with some warmth.
“I told you it’s been forever since I’ve been in a gym… I’m just blessed.”
“Shit, I’d say I’m the blessed one,” Greg replied, helping himself to a mouthful of rice. He set the food down and shifted himself even closer to Eddie. Putting an arm around him, he couldn’t help but notice he was cold all over. “You’re not coming down with food poisoning or something, are you?”
“I don’t think so, but like I said my stomach feels a little heavy.”
“Here, it’s not much, but this might help warm you up a little.”
Greg jostled the little ties on the front of his hoodie, offering it to Eddie.
Eddie nodded.
Greg stood upright to remove it.
Moving swiftly, Eddie took the opportunity grab hold of Greg while his arms were tangled in the hoodie sleeves. He grabbed the sides of Greg’s form-fitting jeans, working his hands along the belt-less edge toward the front. Unbuttoning then unzipping them, Eddie slowly revealed the growing erection that was hidden inside. When the zipper was all the way down, Eddie continued pulling on the sides of the pants, clearing Greg’s muscular thighs. In no time, the denim was around his ankles.
Massaging Greg’s ass with his strong hands, Eddie took his shaft into his mouth, bringing Greg to full attention. Hot and swelled, thick veins protruded from his skin, and Eddie’s jeans began to heave from the sensation of feeling them against his lips.
“You keep that up, and I may just blow my load,” Greg warned.
Eddie slowed down, pulling back to say, “Can’t have that happening just yet.” He stood up. There was a large wet spot at the end of his bulge.
Greg’s eyes grew wider, and he immediately set to removing Eddie’s clothes, stepping out of his own until they were both fully naked in the abandoned house. Slivers of moonlight danced across their bare skin.
Greg found himself admiring every inch of Eddie with his hands. From his broad shoulders and insane back to his incredibly round ass and etched abs that tapered invitingly into those V-lines, this man was perfection personified. It didn’t help that those lines lead right to one of the biggest erections Greg had ever seen, weighty while hanging for what had to be double digits. Greg’s legs buckled at a mere glance, and before he knew it, he was passionately kissing the man of his dreams.
“Where the hell have you been?” Greg whispered in one of Eddie’s ears as he passed by, continuing down his neck. “You’re fucking perfect.”
“No, you are,” Eddie whispered back, and he brought Greg’s lips back up to his. As they kissed, each could feel the other’s stubble brushing against their skin. It was magical.
“You remember our phone conversation?” Greg asked.
“How could I forget that?” Eddie replied, embracing Greg with his big arms.
“I want you to do that to me…”
“Now?”
Eddie cocked an eyebrow while his dick throbbed with hunger.
Greg nodded, stealing another kiss.
Eddie wasted no time, guiding Greg down toward the floor and onto his back, cushioned by a pile of their clothes. Both of their thick muscles rubbed against each other, Eddie looming over Greg.
“You ready?” said Eddie as he slipped on one of the condoms Greg had in his jeans pocket.
Greg looked up from Eddie’s aching erection, along his ridiculous torso, right into his blue eyes. He fell under their powerful spell one more time. No words came, just a single nod.
Eddie smiled and pulled Greg’s ass toward him, the tip of his massive dick entering Greg, spreading him apart as he pushed himself inside.
Greg’s eyes rolled back into his head, and he grimaced from a sharp but pleasing pain. He hadn’t been with a guy this huge before, and it felt un-fucking-believable.
As Eddie pushed further, the sensation deepened, switching to a penetrating euphoria.
Eddie bottomed out and Greg could feel himself rushing toward the verge of orgasm. His pulsing dick was already leaking, a pool of white forming beneath the head.
That didn’t stop Eddie. He continued to grind against Greg’s expectant ass repeatedly.
Greg thanked him by clenching his hole tight. He wanted to shout, wanted to moan, wanted to scream as Eddie’s pelvis struck his ass.
Eddie took the pleasure across his face as a sign for more, and more he delivered.
Greg then began to wriggle, Eddie changing his rhythm as he started to build toward a climax himself. Both men moved their hips in unison. Things would soon tip over the point of no return.
“Oh God…” Greg groaned, and he was the first to spill over. Not needing to touch himself at all. He was soaked.
Eddie then pulled back and thrust forward one more forceful time.
“Yes…” he moaned. “Oh…. yes!”
Unloading himself inside Greg, he ground out the last throes of passion before they both collapsed atop each other in a mound of flesh. They were utterly spent and out of breath, but certainly not lust.
Half an hour had passed by.
Greg found himself lying in bliss atop their clothes, both still naked as the night was dark. Eddie had already drifted off to sleep, his gorgeous face lying on Greg’s inked chest.
Reaching over, Greg grabbed his voice recorder. He stared at it for a while, wondering what he would hear when he reviewed the recordings later. Not knowing if they’d captured any evidence at all, he figured he’d leave himself something memorable about the occasion.
Flicking it on, he held the speaker close to his lips and said softly, as if he were whispering in Eddie’s ear: “I don’t know what happened earlier tonight and if it will prove to be anything groundbreaking on review, but I for one am glad this hunt happened, because I met you.”
Greg then looked to Eddie one more time, kissing his new friend on the head. He switched off the recorder and fell asleep with a large smile on his face, probably the largest smile he’d had in a very long time.