Page 7 of The Penitentiary (Ghost Seekers Inc. #1)

“Get out!” a voice hissed in Sunny’s ear.

“Yeah, I’m getting right on that,” Sunny agreed, and I giggled. He hated stuff like this.

Madi sent him a scornful look.

“Leave… run… awakened him,” Dutch’s voice echoed forlornly. “Sorry, dame.”

“If a ghost is telling us to get the fuck out, we’re getting the fuck out,” Sunny stated and started tugging Madi and me away.

“Woke who?” I demanded.

“Me!” someone boomed, and Madi and I screamed.

Sunny swung me up into his embrace, grabbed hold of Madi, and started running with us.

“Sunny! Put me down!” I yelled. “This is why we’re here! To investigate!”

“Fuck that! Something scratched me,” Sunny retorted as he slowly took the stairs so that he wouldn’t trip with me in his arms. Phil was pulling Madi as she kept sending backward glances over her shoulder.

As we headed to the exit of the cellblock, the gates crashed shut, and Sunny skidded to a halt. “Shit.”

“That’s poltergeist activity,” I stated as I wriggled to get down.

“Really?” Madi asked, her eyes wide. There was a ping near us, and we jumped and glanced around.

“There!” Phil exclaimed, and we looked down. A coin was on the floor.

“Did that get thrown at us?” I demanded in confusion.

“We need to leave. I don’t like this,” Sunny said.

“No, something seems to be coming,” Phill muttered.

I couldn’t disagree. The air became heavy, and an oppressiveness slowly appeared that hadn’t been present before. Dread trickled down my back as even Madi crowded in, wide-eyed.

“You know what we didn’t discover? Is the demon corralled in one place or does it have free rein?” I murmured.

“We haven’t proved there is one,” Phil said.

“No, but whatever is coming is big and bad, and we need to leave now,” I reported.

“The gates are shut,” Sunny snapped.

“But are they locked? We have a key, Sunny,” I replied, and he smacked himself on the forehead.

“I’m stressed,” he muttered and headed for the gate.

It opened instantly, and I glared at him for panicking before marching through it. Madi followed as Phil let out a shout and his boots pounded the floor. Sunny was right behind, and I saw why. Madi screamed as I gaped at the spirit heading towards us.

It was a black, indistinct shape, with frayed edges. In the middle, though, was the pale face of a man. His expression was sheer evil, and his eyes burned red.

Sunny yelped and grabbed Madi and me and began running again. So we wouldn’t fall over, we had to run to keep up with him.

“Mine!” a voice roared from behind us, but we didn’t stop. We skidded to a halt once we got outside and swapped glances.

“That was so intense. We need to go back,” I stated as I gasped for breath.

“Yeah!” Madi breathed.

“You’re fucking insane, we’re taking a break.” Sunny glowered at Madi and me.

Levi

I wondered how my wife was getting on. So far, this had been a bust. Jack had asked questions, and we’d also sat on the floor and listened for a bit. He placed the Rem Pod between us and two more at each end of the ground-floor walkway.

“Is it usually like this?”

“Yes and no. Sometimes activity takes a while to start; other times it won’t, but the next day it will change up. That’s why we ensure we hit the target area several times and with different lead investigators. A spirit might respond to me and not Callie or vice versa.”

“Seems a lot of waiting about for nothing to happen,” I replied. Freddie made a noise that suggested she was amused.

Her gaze widened, and she swung the camera in the direction of some cells halfway down.

“Freddie?”

“I swear, something moved back there. It was the shape of a man,” Freddie replied.

“A shadow man has been seen here. Which cell was it, Freddie?” Jack inquired as he got to his feet. He reached out a hand to me and hauled me up.

“Is it game time?” I asked, and Jack snorted.

“Maybe. Just keep your… um… opinions from yesterday to yourself!” Jack teased, and I laughed as we headed down the walkway.

“My name is Jack, and these are Levi and Freddie. We don’t mean you any harm, and we’d like to talk to you. Freddie thinks she saw a shadow figure come in here,” Jack said, standing outside the cell Freddie had pointed to.

Jack held out his voice recorder as we waited patiently. “That round box on the floor with the antennas? That’s called a REM-Pod. If you touch it, it will let us know you’re here.”

Jack paused for several moments and opened his mouth, but a high-pitched squeal interrupted him. We turned as the REM-Pod lit up.

My jaw dropped open. There was nothing close to set it off, but it was squealing loudly.

“Thanks! I want to ask you some questions. I’ll count to ten after asking one, and if you touch the REM Pod before I reach ten, that indicates yes. If you don’t touch it, it means no. Is that okay?” Jack asked and started counting. The REM Pod wailed a yes answer.

“Were you an inmate here?”

Yes.

“Did you die here?”

Yes.

“Thank you for answering. Did you pass of natural causes?” Jack inquired.

No.

“You were murdered.”

Yes.

“I’m really sorry to hear that,” Jack said.

“Did you commit your crime?” I asked.

Yes.

“An honest criminal,” I quipped, and Jack elbowed me. That hurt; the guy had bony elbows.

“Were you here over five years?” Jack said.

Yes.

“Ten years?” I spoke next.

Yes.

“Fifteen.”

No.

I was surprised at Jack’s patience as he narrowed it down to thirteen years.

“Did an inmate kill you?” I wondered.

No.

“A guard did?” I exclaimed.

Yes.

“Damn, dude, that sucks,” I stated.

Yes.

“Are you the figure that walks around and has been seen?” Jack inquired.

Yes.

“Are you trying to get a message to someone?” Jack said next.

No.

“Why are you still here?” Jack asked.

“Because you enjoy haunting here and giving people a scare, right?” I drawled, and the REM Pod went all kinds of crazy. “Guessing that’s a hell yeah.”

“You like folks being scared of you?” Jack demanded, screwing his face up. He batted his hand at something and glowered.

Freddie turned the camera on Jack. “What’s up?”

“Something is touching my cheek. Like a finger running down it.”

“That is some freaky shit.” I gasped and moved away from Jack. After last night, I wouldn’t say I was a true believer, but neither was I as sceptical as before.

“Is it hurting you?” Freddie asked.

“No. But it’s uncomfortable, and it’s aimed at making me so,” Jack replied.

A faint ghostly chuckle sounded, and my eyes grew wide.

“I don’t sense this man is a danger; more, he likes to scare and play tricks on people,” Jack stated.

“Even so, I believe that a disembodied voice is not great fun,” I mentioned.

“Nah, and that’s why this guy does it. Let’s take a break before returning,” Jack said.

“Do we have to?” I almost whined. Jack sent me an evil grin.

“We’ll be halfway through the night by now, Callie and I will swap cellblocks. You’ll be glad to hear that at about three a.m., we’ll be heading to cellblock eight.” Jack laughed. We both stiffened as a cackle joined in.

“It’s a good job I love my wife,” I bitched as we walked out. The hell I was setting foot back in cellblock eight.