Chapter Six
FLYNN was glad they’d come back to the hospital. Sure last night had been disappointing, but their first night had been awesome. It was neat coming back during the day too. While it was still fairly dark in the hospital, it felt less spooky than it did at night. Of course for all he knew that was going to mean they wouldn’t get any hits. He just didn’t know, but it would be interesting to see.
“Are we going to check out upstairs today?” They hadn’t ventured up there at all, barring the quick look he and Blaine had done on Friday.
“No.” Blaine shook his head, refusing to meet his eyes. “Let’s focus on the ER.”
“Oh, okay.” Flynn shrugged. He supposed that was where they’d gotten the great hit, but on Friday Blaine had been excited about the second floor, and that’s where they’d set up the overnight cameras. Not that they’d caught anything. “You think Renee will come back today?”
“I hope so. Come on. Let’s go explore. Cameras are ready?”
Will nodded. “They are.”
“Let’s do this thing.” Darnell hoisted his camera too. Jason trailed them with a boom mike for better sound.
“Lead on,” Flynn added, all smiles. He was trying not to bounce too much or get too excited in case it was another bust. But he was hopeful.
Blaine pushed his braid back behind his shoulder, smiling into the lens. “Hey, we’re at the Eugene Thurston Memorial Hospital, and we’re hoping to get some activity. We were here a couple of days ago, and we encountered an entity we believe to be a nurse who was gunned down here in the emergency room.”
Flynn began using the EMF reader as they walked toward the ER, searching high and low for some hits.
“The entity made contact with me, asking me if I needed assistance and trying to take my pulse.”
“We all felt the sudden cold when the entity showed up,” Flynn added. Even if they hadn’t gotten anything concrete on the damn cameras. Yeah, there had been something indistinct and some sounds, but nothing they could say was more than normal sounds of an abandoned building. Certainly nothing like the mumbling he’d heard, let alone the actual conversation Blaine had been having with her.
That, to him, was more frustrating than them not getting a single thing yesterday—the obvious hits they’d been getting on Friday night that they just couldn’t prove.
Blaine closed his eyes, face turning toward the stairs, and Flynn swore Blaine shook his head like he was arguing.
“Is there something upstairs, Blaine?” Flynn headed toward him, the guys following.
“Just dust.” That was a lie. He knew that.
What he didn’t know was why Blaine didn’t want to go up there. Maybe whatever Blaine was getting from up there was pretty fucking scary. He let it drop. If they didn’t get a hit in the emergency room today, he could suggest they go upstairs instead.
They all followed Blaine down the main hall toward the ER. Flynn didn’t know if it was his imagination or not, but he thought it was beginning to get cooler. Not cold, but… a temperature change.
Blaine walked, his eyes closed like last time, unerringly toward the area where the four nurses died. Flynn moved in closer than he’d been yesterday or Friday, feeling the need to protect Blaine.
Will stayed right on them, the camera like a growth from his face.
Flynn tried to ignore it, or at least be cool about it, but he wasn’t nearly as sanguine about it as Blaine was, and he kept worrying whether he should be keeping the narration going or something when Blaine wasn’t talking.
“I feel like things are heavy here, like there’s a….” Blaine stopped, hand reaching out for a second.
Flynn held his breath and worked the EMF reader, trying to pick something up. He couldn’t see anything, or hear it.
Suddenly the EMF went off, the lights glowing red. “We got a hit!”
He knew he was bouncing like a loon, but he was excited.
“Are you getting anything else, Blaine? Is she back?” Was he making it harder for Blaine by talking? He’d have to check some other time when they weren’t filming and here in the middle of it all.
He wasn’t sure Blaine even heard him. He wasn’t sure Blaine even cared.
Flynn strained to see or hear something. Then he felt a touch, like a hand sliding down his back, and he gasped, shivered. “Something touched me.”
He spun around, and for a second he swore Blaine was standing there, but that wasn’t possible because Blaine was in front of him.
Flynn blinked and looked again. Whatever he’d seen was gone. “Shit, that was spooky.” And weird. “What do you see?” he asked Blaine.
Blaine shook his head as if to clear it. “Did you guys hear that? ‘Can you help us? We’re here in the ER.’”
“Oh God. That’s amazing. I didn’t hear that, but I definitely felt something. Someone touched me on the back.” He laughed softly. “I turned, and for a minute I thought it was you, which is crazy because you were in front of me the whole time.”
“Yeah? Weird. Will? You see anything?”
“Shadows. And it’s like fucking December in here.”
“Didn’t see anything,” Jason noted. And Darnell agreed.
“So they want our help?” Flynn asked. “What can we do for them? Do they know they’re dead?”
Blaine stood there, silent, still, weirdly unfocused.
Flynn glanced at the other guys. “Is this normal?” It wasn’t like anything that had happened in the last couple of days, but maybe it did happen. He didn’t know. It seemed off, though, kind of creepy and wrong.
“Blaine? Blaine, man, you okay?” Will frowned behind the camera. “Blaine!”
Okay, so not normal.
Flynn grabbed Blaine’s arm and squeezed, and an electric jolt thrilled through him, almost like he’d touched a live wire. He gasped and squeezed tighter. “Blaine! Come on. Talk to me.”
“Huh? I’m cool. I’m cool.” Blaine shook his head, blinking for a moment.
“Your skin sure is.” It was cold to the touch. Flynn rubbed his hands along Blaine’s arms, trying to warm him up. “You have goose bumps.”
Will walked up and pushed the camera into Blaine’s face. “You okay, man?”
“Chilled.”
Flynn snorted. “Yeah. To the bone by the looks of you. What’s going on, Blaine? You’ve got to talk to us.”
“I thought I…. I don’t know. I feel a little heavy and totally chilled.”
Flynn hugged Blaine, trying to impart body warmth but also worried. “We gotta get him warmed up, guys.”
Darnell put down the boom and came around to hug Blaine from the back. Flynn nodded. Between the two of them, this should work, right? Unless of course the ghost was, like, inside Blaine or something.
“You know who you are, right?”
“Sure I do! I’m not crazy!”
“Hey, I never said that. I was just worried that….” Well, it sounded stupid now that he was about to say it out loud.
“What?” Will asked.
Flynn shrugged and let go of Blaine. “Possessed or something.” Oh yeah, it definitely sounded stupid saying it out loud. But he was worried for Blaine—honestly worried. He didn’t want anything to happen to the guy.
Darnell was the first one to start laughing, and then they were all cracking up, ending the tension.
He rolled his eyes at himself. “Sorry, man. Shit happened, and you got chilled from the sudden drop in temperature, and I guess I kind of freaked.” It had been really weird, though. And he’d had the sense Blaine was being taken away from him, which was crazy.
“He’s new,” Will teased. “He worries.”
“Like we all haven’t had our moments, huh?” Blaine rubbed his arms, looking like the man Flynn knew—the one he’d rubbed off with a few hours ago.
“I’ll try not to overreact again.”
“Can we get back to filming already?” Jason asked.
Flynn nodded. “You want to tell us what you saw or felt, and then we’ll go in?”
“It was cold, and I thought I heard someone crying, but I could have been wrong. It happens, you know?”
“Yeah. Are you okay now? Should we go on?” Flynn was totally willing to let Blaine take the lead here.
“Yeah. Yeah, of course. I’m golden.”
Blaine wandered in and out of different empty, dusty bays, taking readings and muttering to himself.
Flynn shrugged and went with it. Who was he to say Blaine wasn’t being on the up-and-up? He’d only just met the guy, and one shared orgasm didn’t give him permission to make like he knew Blaine better than the rest of the guys.
He felt like he did, though, and the worry sat like a bird of prey on his shoulder.
Blaine looked weirdly haunted, a bit drawn, which was stupid, wasn’t it?
Flynn kept his mouth shut but watched Blaine closely. If he thought something was taking Blaine over again like he had earlier, he was interfering.
He didn’t like that thought, that his friend—lover—might get taken over.
The EMF reader started going crazy again. “Do you see anything, Blaine?”
“Look at all the pretty horses.”
Who said that? Was that Blaine?
He looked over to Will, who had the camera glued to them.
“Blaine? Say again?”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Yes, you did.” That was Jase, over the earphones. “Something about horses.”
“Yeah, Jase is right.” Flynn nodded. He was sure they’d gotten that on camera this time. “Is someone here? Someone besides the five of us?”
“The meters are going wild, man.” Darnell was a little wild-eyed.
“Uh-huh.” Flynn nodded vigorously and nudged Blaine. He should have been excited too and narrating this. Something was wrong if he wasn’t on it, Flynn was sure. “Blaine? Is there someone here?”
“Horses. You have to watch for the horses.” Blaine blinked and then grinned, the look false, a sham. “Man, look at all the sensors. We must have lit the place up.”
“You’re fucking right we did,” Darnell said. “But what’s with the fucking horses?”
“Yeah.” Will focused in on Blaine. “Tell us what the heck that was all about.”
Flynn didn’t say anything, but he wanted to know too.
“What horses?”
“Yeah, that’s what we want to know.” Flynn put his hand on Blaine’s forehead. He was chilled again. “You keep telling us about the horses. To look at them and watch out for them. Have you ever had a ghost take you over before?” Because really, that was the only thing that made sense here. That or the guys were punking him, but he thought they were too into the whole ghost-hunting thing to make fun of it like that.
“That doesn’t happen.” Blaine shook his head. “You guys must have misunderstood me.”
“I guess we’ll find out when we play the tape back later. Meantime are you picking anything up in here like the other day?” He was of the opinion Blaine was more than just picking up words and feelings, but had been possessed. But he’d wait and see what the cameras had to say before pressing his argument, because God only knew they hadn’t picked up much Friday when they’d had the previous great ghost experience.
They all looked at Blaine expectantly.
“There’s a definite cold spot in two different areas, and I’m feeling tingling on my right arm over here.”
“Have you heard anything from any of them? Is it the nurses? Did she try to help you again?”
“Is it you, Renee? Maryann?” Blaine shivered and rubbed his arms. “Is the meter showing the temperature dropping?”
“Fuck yes.” Flynn shivered. “Not to mention my skin is telling the same tale.” He grabbed the laptop with the infrared and held it up. “I can see something!” There were definite shapes, three of them.
“Where? Where? What is it?” Blaine turned around, searching the room.
“Right here. It’s like they’re surrounding us. You can’t see anything?” Why couldn’t Blaine see them? Today seemed all assbackwards and weird—weirder than usual anyway.
“I… I feel cold. I….” Blaine’s hand raised and turned over. And it didn’t look like Blaine was doing it himself.
“Blaine? Should we go, or are you okay?”
“I’m…. Are you looking for my pulse?”
“Of course, honey. Don’t worry, I’m here to help.”
Flynn gasped, the voice as clear as you please. “Oh God. I heard that. Did you get it, Darnell?”
“Mic’s on. Don’t know what it’s picking up.”
Blaine wasn’t watching him, wasn’t paying attention to them at all. Blaine was looking at someone else.
Flynn had to admit this was far creepier than if he’d seen a specter himself—watching Blaine’s unfocused eyes, the way he was communicating with someone who wasn’t actually there.
“What do we do, Jase?” he whispered. “Do we stop this?”
“Fuck no,” Jason said into the earphone. “Let it run.”
Flynn didn’t like it. What if something bad happened to Blaine? It didn’t seem right to stand aside and let it happen, to do nothing more than watch.
He took a deep breath—if Blaine appeared to be fading or being hurt, Flynn would interfere.
Blaine nodded, like he was answering a question, like he was having a conversation.
“Blaine? Blaine, man, what are you seeing?” Jason asked.
Darnell shook his head. “You gotta talk to us, man. Tell us what you’re seeing. Tell the audience what you’re seeing.”
Flynn strained to see anything, to hear anything, but he didn’t. He’d only heard that one sentence and felt the cold, whereas Blaine was clearly communing.
Blaine looked over his shoulder, blinked. “David, don’t you think we should get out of here and let these folks do their jobs?”
Blaine was looking right at him, like right into his eyes. This was that possession thing again, because his name wasn’t David.
“Blaine? Honey, are you in there?” He stepped forward and reached out, returning his hand to Blaine’s arm. His fingers were immediately chilled, and he felt like he’d been hit with high voltage, a shock going all through him and leaving him gasping.
Blaine stepped back, and all of a sudden, a door slammed shut behind him. Flynn jumped about a foot off the ground, and Will swore loudly.
Okay, that was probably just the wind, but damn. Creepy as fuck.
“I suppose we should check the door out? See what made it close?” Flynn would be more than happy if the guys shot down his suggestion.
“Yeah. Yeah, that was fu— screwed up.”
Well, that sounded like normal Blaine. Flynn met his gaze, and sure enough, Blaine looked back at him. Actual Blaine actually looking at him. Seeing this now, there was definitely a difference from earlier. And that was maybe creepier than anything else.
“Okay. To the self-closing doors we go. Are we taking bets on what we think it was?” Flynn tried to keep it light.
“I’ll take the wind for five bucks,” muttered Will, coming closer as they moved slowly forward.
In fact they were all staying much closer to each other than they had so far. Flynn was glad he wasn’t the only one who was a little freaked out.
“I’m going with sprung door hinge,” Blaine said, while Darnell popped up with some bullshit about a rabid weremoose.
“Kids playing a prank,” Will said.
Jason snorted. “Are we really none of us going to say ghosts? I mean, that’s why we’re here, right? Well, I’m going to put my money on that.”
Despite his brave words, Jason was sticking as close to the group as the rest of them. Flynn had the incredibly strong urge to grab Blaine’s hand and hold on. In fact he even reached out to do it before he yanked his hand back to his side and told himself not to be a giant pussy.
It was Blaine who grabbed the door handle and turned it, then pulled it with a steady, long tug. It creaked, the sound almost shuddering, almost breaking the air.
Dust poured off the top, showering down around Blaine, and Flynn was fascinated for a second by the sparkle as the sun hit it.
So fascinated that he almost missed it when the door began to fall off the hinges, heading right for Blaine.
Almost.
“Blaine!” He leaped forward and pushed Blaine out of the way, his arm going up to protect his head as the door continued its downward trajectory.
The door was heavy, but not enough to bring him down. Blaine grabbed the edge, and so did Darnell, heaving the door up and out.
“I’d say that makes you the winner, Blaine.” Flynn rubbed his arm, glad it hadn’t hit his head. Even more glad it hadn’t been any heavier than it was.
“Jesus. Are you okay? That was fucked up. God, it could have killed us.”
“Yeah.” He rolled his neck and his shoulder. He was going to be sore later, but he was okay. “I’m good. So. Broken hinge, not a ghost. We gonna stay here in the emergency room or go upstairs?”
“I think we should review what we got on film.”
“You want to leave while we’re having a hot streak?” Jason asked, sounding confused.
Flynn backed Blaine up, though. It had been damn weird earlier, and if Blaine needed a break, he was all for it. “We could go refill on water and grab a snack and everything too.”
“Whatever. I mean, Flynn almost got hurt, man.” Will sounded worried, and they all looked over at him. “I’m freaked the fuck out.”
Flynn took a deep breath, feeling suddenly way better hearing someone else say out loud how super creepy this whole thing was. “I’m fine, but I wouldn’t be upset if we called it a day either.” He could totally hang out with Blaine some more in a non-ghosty situation.
“You guys…,” Jason started, but this time it was Blaine who shook his head.
“Seriously, Jase. I’m done. I mean it. I need a break. I have a shit headache coming on.”
“That’s a majority of three,” Will noted. “Let’s go.”
Flynn chuckled, but he was more than ready to jump on that. He put his arm around Blaine, hoping it wasn’t too forward in front of the guys. “Man, you are like an icicle.”
“I don’t feel so good, man. Seriously. I might hurl.”
“Okay, I’ve got you. See if you can hold it till we’re outside.” Because barf sitting forever inside the hospital was just going to make everything super gross. He hurried Blaine ahead of the guys, not running, but definitely moving Blaine along, because just thinking about it made him feel a little like barfing himself.
He got them outside, where the sun was just beginning to set, and guided Blaine to a section of broken pavement off the main sidewalk up to the building. “Just bend over a bit and take deep breaths.”
“Right. Right.” Blaine sucked in air once, then again.
Flynn rubbed Blaine’s back, trying to comfort and help warm him up at the same time. “You are seriously icy.”
“Yeah. I feel jittery as hell.”
“Guys? Somebody got some water and a cookie or something?” Flynn asked.
“Heads up!” Will tossed him a water bottle, which he managed to catch before it beaned Blaine in the head.
The energy bar Darnell tossed landed on Blaine, and Flynn rolled his eyes as he bent to pick it up.
“Buttheads.”
“We’re just being helpful.”
Flynn guided Blaine over to the van and helped him sit. He gave him the water bottle first, then opened the power bar and offered it to him. “Eat too. You look like a ghost yourself, you’ve gone so pale.”
“I don’t know if I can. I’m queasy.”
“How about just a tiny bite?” Flynn pulled the bar apart, offering Blaine a little piece of it.
“Thanks. I’ll just take a wee bit, right?”
“Just a nibble and see if it helps. If it doesn’t, you don’t have to eat any more.” Hell, Blaine didn’t have to eat any of it. He was a grown-up. But Flynn was worried about him and would feel better if Blaine was eating and drinking.
The other guys loaded the van, Jason and Darnell going back for the two cameras left on the second floor as Will played Tetris with the equipment.
Blaine took a few bites, then leaned against Flynn, eyes closed.
“I need to get you home, baby.” The words came to him as easy as breathing. “Need to get you away from this place.”
He put his arm around Blaine’s shoulders and held on tight.
“Baby? You two are in baby mode now? Seriously?” Jason looked a little peeved.
Flynn’s cheeks heated, and it annoyed the fuck out of him. What did Jason care where they were? Besides, he was feeling rather protective of Blaine right now.
“Leave him be. We’re all wigged,” Blaine muttered.
“Yeah, yeah, we are.” Darnell nodded and tossed his handful of equipment into the back of the van before coming around and sitting on the other side of Flynn, leaving the front passenger seat for Jason.
“That’s what we get for running three times in a row, huh?” Will asked.
“A bigger hit than ever? Maybe we should always do that,” Flynn suggested. His heart wasn’t in it, though.
Something had felt so off, so wrong. Dangerous, even? That couldn’t be what the guys usually experienced when they went out hunting. He’d have to ask Blaine. Once they were far away from here and Blaine was feeling 100 percent himself again, that was.
He breathed a sigh of relief when Will started the engine and they drove away from the hospital.
He swore the shadows followed them all the way down the driveway, and he didn’t let go of Blaine. He thought it said a lot that Blaine made no move to pull away from him either.
He didn’t really start to relax until they were back on the highway and almost home.