Page 44 of The Haunting of Lockton

“Nah.” Skyler lightly knocked my shoulder with his. “Seeing your reaction after the fact is way more fun.”

He was teasing me. And I kind of liked it.

“Is Julian here?”

Skyler shook his head. “He and Taylor went out for drinks.”

Ah, right. Taylor Michaels. He’d been a few grades below me in school, but I’d never talked to him. He’d seemed friendly though, always smiling.

“What about Lockton?” I asked. “I thought you were going back tonight.”

“That was originally the plan.” Skyler slouched more on the bench and shifted one leg over, the one closest to me. Our shoes bumped together. When he didn’t move it away, the little flutters in my stomach reared back to life, stronger now. “But something wild happened this morning.”

“You getting out of bed before noon?”

He laughed. Hard. Maybe he liked me teasing him too. “Two wild things, then.” His smile fell. “We plan to leave the full evidence analysis for later, but we were too eager to see if we’d caught anything last night. After breakfast, we played back the EVP. Just to check it out.”

“And?”

Skyler blew out a breath. “And I’ve never heard anything like it. I’m actually getting chills just thinking about it.” He rubbedhis arms. “Other than wanting to see you for my own selfish reasons, it’s partly why I came here tonight. I wanted to show you.”

“Okay.” I tried not to dwell too much on those selfish reasons he mentioned, not wanting to get my hopes up that he was feeling the same spark of attraction as me.

“I downloaded some of the clips.” He pulled out his phone and tapped the screen a few times. “It’s from when you had the EVP.”

He hit Play on the recording, and I hunched closer to listen.

“Good evening. I’m Paxton,” I heard myself on the recording. “Um. Is there anyone here who’d like to communicate with us?”

Silence.

The recording continued. “You may have seen me before. I guide groups through here every so often.”

“Yes. I know you.”

Skyler hit Pause. “Did you hear it?”

“Someone answered me,” I said. “Sounded female.”

“Believe me. That’s not all. Listen closely. This is where it gets… well, you’ll just have to hear it.” He pushed Play.

“Does it upset you when people tour the building?” Recording-Me asked. “My apologies if so. We mean no disrespect.”

“No,”a different voice answered, this one male.“Lonely.”

“Friends.”Female voice.

“Please don’t worry about scaring us,” Julian said on the recording. “Feel free to come closer and talk to us. We’re here foryou. To hear your story if you want to share it.”

“He killed me.”

“I’m lonely.”

“I miss him.”

“I know talking to strangers can be nerve-racking,” I heard myself say. “But if you want, step forward and tell us your name.”

Right after, the voices grew louder—sounded closer. And they all mingled together.