The Paranormal Powerwashers and the Missing Ghosts

4

Venus

"Looks like Jeannie got scared!" Venus said, laughing.

Lillybelle shot a look at her from over her shoulder, brows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

Venus held out her phone and Lilly turned around, squinting at the screen. A smile broke over her face.

"Ah, so that was the notification I just got."

"You don't check your messages?" Venus asked, her phone buzzing again in her hand. It was a reply from Berri.

Lilly shook her head. "My phone is always on silent, so I check them when I know I have the time."

Venus nodded as Lilly turned back to the building. Makes sense. She read over Berri's message.

Where did you find an owl?- Boo Berri

Venus smiled and tapped out a response.

Will tell @ meeting l8r- V

Glancing at the walls of the warehouse, a creeping feeling took hold of Venus and she couldn't shake the unease that the dark windows instilled. Her phone buzzed again.

Pics or it didn't happen- The-o-deo

Will do.- V

Venus waited for a moment, hoping to see Jeannie's usual slew of heart emojis spill into the chat. But none came. The most recently viewed message from the redhead was her own. Exiting the group chat, Venus tapped on Jeannie's contact, labeled Genie Beanie.

How's that side lookin?- V

Message was delivered, but not read. Not even after Venus sent her own slew of emojis. A small pit in Venus's stomach grew cold, pressing into her. She pressed the call icon and put her phone to her ear, chewing on her lip. Pick up, pick up, pick up.

After one ring, the line clicked.

"Hi, this is Jeannie! If you're hearing this, I can't make it to the phone right now, please leave me a message or call me back-"

Venus hung up. She ignored my call? Weird.

"Hey, Lilly, Jeannie just sent me straight to voice mail."

"Maybe she miss-clicked?" Lillybelle turned back, frowning. "Call again."

Venus did as she was told, sucking in a breath. Two rings, click.

"Hi, this is Jeannie! If you're hearing this-"

"Shit, straight to voicemail again. Can you call her?"

Lillybelle sighed, but pulled out her phone. "She's probably just caught up taking pictures."

Venus nodded as Lilly shifted her papers to her prosthetic and held the phone up to her ear. Even from a few feet away, Venus could hear Jeannie's voice from the phone.

"Hi, this is Jeannie! If you're hearing this, I can't make it to the phone right now. Please-"

Lillybelle ended the call and shook her head. "She's probably fine." A tremor in Lilly's voice said she thought otherwise, but Venus decided not to press it further.

She glanced at the map that lay in Lilly's arms. It looked as if they were near the back half, a couple of loose sketches and notes dotting the blueprint. Venus glanced in at the window and doubled back. Behind the smudged and mostly leaf covered glass, was nothing. No walls, or doors, or anything. Just darkness.

Frowning, she shone her phone flashlight in the window, as she had left her heavy duty flashlight in the car. The light, which had earlier revealed dank closets and a weirdly open room of pillars, now pierced the darkness to reveal nothing. The light shone into a void of black.

"What the fuck?" Venus muttered under her breath, leaning closer to the window with wide eyes.

A quiet sound hit her ears as she leaned forward, almost like whispering. Each tiny voice was soft, words indiscernible as the voices were from each other, a mesh of white noise as syllables. Heat emanated from the darkness, almost painful the closer she leaned forward. A gust of sharp heat blew in her face and she stumbled back.

She whipped around and jogged to catch up with Lillybelle, who had kept walking.

"You never told me this place was supposed to be some black void."

"What are you talking about?" Venus explained what she had seen and Lilly frowned again. "That's not something any of the other encounters have described. Are you sure?"

Venus gaped.

"Yeah, I'm fucking sure, I felt it!"

"Sorry, sorry, just making sure." Lilly cracked a smile.

"I don't feel good about this, Lilly. We should get to the meeting point and then look for Jeannie."

"Okay, let's do that."

The rest of the walk around the building was uneventful, but with every step further, Venus felt more and more nervous. Each look through the windows seemed less and less inviting, blackness glaring back at her with every glance. The wind rustled through the trees and threw light shadows across the building, the dim light of the afternoon sun making them weak, yet sharp claws on the building.

They turned the final corner and Venus felt her heart drop. The back of the building- the meeting point- was completely empty. Heart pounding loudly in her chest, Venus glanced between the unread messages and the empty clearing behind the warehouse. Where the fuck is Jeannie?