Free Happily Never After by Missy Fleming

our
right. I felt Jason jump and inch even closer to me.
    “Hello?” Abby called out into the dark. “Is
there someone here with us?”
    All three of us were absolutely still, but no
more sounds came from around us.
    I asked, “If you’re here, there’s no need to
be afraid. I think I heard you. If that was you, could you do it
again?”
    We’d turned off our flashlights so the only
illumination was the light coming from outside and the narrow view
we saw through the screens on our cameras. From our right I heard a
scuff, like a shoe moving on a dirty floor. I saw Abby turn in the
direction and begin filming.
    Another, quieter bang came from behind us. It
was the kind of stuff I was used to in this building, though I
sensed Jason's tension growing by the minute. It surprised me how
active it was already, surprised and pumped up. This was what I
loved.
    The darkness, the holding your body still to
keep quiet and the unexplained noises would have scared normal
people. Thank goodness, I wasn’t one of them. It was a comfort
knowing life continued in one form or another.
    Abby walked farther along the hall, filming
the area in front of her. Of all the floors, we were on the one
that seemed the most consistently active. One more knock or bang
came from the far end of the hall and Abby motioned she was heading
that direction.
    Jason was still glued to my side. If we
hadn’t been experiencing activity, I would have loved teasing him
about it.
    He smelled clean, a breath of sunshine and
fresh air. I couldn’t believe I was standing in the middle of a
haunted building thinking about what he smelled like. It also
dawned on me we were almost touching. It made my palms instantly
sweat and I had to get a better grip on my camera. I started
snapping pictures, forcing myself to concentrate on what I was
there to do.
    “Are you expecting company?” he whispered.
When I didn’t answer he continued, “Someone’s coming up the
stairs.”
    Turning my head slightly, I listened for a
sound from the direction of the stairs. Sure enough, I heard slow
footsteps. Occasionally the steps themselves creaked or groaned as
if a person with actual weight were on them. The sounds were faint
but obviously moving up towards us.
    My eyes adjusted to the dark. If something
was there, I didn’t want to startle it by turning on the
flashlight. I moved slowly to the stairs using only my camera’s LCD
screen as illumination and waited.
    I heard Jason follow. He started to say
something but I elbowed him. He must have gotten the message
because he shut up.
    The air changed, growing heavier and heavier.
People always say when something spooky happens, every hair on
their body stands up and that’s exactly what happens. It was
similar to standing in the middle of a lightning storm. No other
words did it justice.
    I knew the feeling; it meant we weren’t
alone.
    If anyone asked me, I’d freely admit I still
experienced a small twinge of fear in situations like this. The
expectation of the unknown and of what I might come face to face
with never left me, regardless of my strange ability to
communicate. Eventually the fear lessened but never fully
dissipated. Evil entities did exist. I should know. I was living
with one.
    Jason stepped closer and I knew he'd sensed
it too. I raised the camera and started snapping a quick series of
shots in the direction of the staircase. It seemed that with each
picture I took, the temperature of the air dropped. Soon, I saw the
white vapor of our breath in the dark.
    From being in the building before, I
recognized this spirit. It was female and over time, I had come to
learn certain things about her. She searched for her children who'd
stayed here when the building was used as a hospital. An outbreak
of fever had swept across the city and the dead piled up. Many
people brought their children here to die. I wished more than ever
that I could actually talk to the spirits. Seeing and sensing
things about them wasn’t