Can You Handle the Heat?

Chapter 36

After deliberation we decided that we'd switch wards, we girls started in the women's ward and are going to move to the men's ward. We were also lent a pair of headphones and Eddie handed Gabby his bandana. We walked into the room and the air felt oppressive. I honestly felt like a rabbit in a wolf's den. I couldn't stop the constant shivering that ran all over my body. I rolled my shoulders and kept my head up. I walked to the middle of the room,

"Alright, to anything in this room, I am going to be using a spirit box. You can communicate through me; however, I don't want anything to happen to anyone else in this room." I take Eddie's bandana from Gabby, plug in the headphones, and sit facing the camera that I set up on the floor. I have the lights facing me. The static immediately takes over my ears. I can't hear anything going on outside of the headphones. I suddenly heard '18' so I repeated it out loud.

I repeat everything I hear, 'fire' 'die' 'hate' 'murder' 'fear' 'get out' 'see' 'stop' 'run' 'we see you' 'I'm almost there' 'will harm' '5...4...3...2...1'. As soon as I say one it feels like I have a scratch down my back. I yank the headphones off.

"AGH! WHAT THE FUCK!" I screamed out. I stood up and ran to where the other girls were.

"Wait, what happened (Y/N)?" Margo asks concerned. My back feels wet. I reached around and touched where I felt the scratch. As I bring my hand to the front of me, I feel faint.

"It's blood. Holy fuck! ERICK! GUYS! Get over here NOW!" I kept my eyes on my hand as I'm ushered out of the room to the connecting halls. A flashlight blinds my eyes and I felt myself blink for the first time in a while. I looked up and around the room. Everyone's eyes are on me. I notice Emily is behind me, and my shirt has been taken off of me.

"My camera. I have got to get my camera." I tried to stand up and get held down by Emily.

"Someone can get it for you. You need to sit still while I tie this around you," she said disapprovingly. I frowned, and moved to stand up again,

"I'm fine I promise, the blood just shocked me. I feel fine, I promise. I can keep going." She seemed hesitant as she let me stand. I stood up perfectly fine, with no faint feeling at all. It was then that I realized the implications of no shirt. My dignity kicked in and I covered myself as best as I could. Gaege seemed to pick up on my discomfort and immediately took off his hoodie. He helped me put it on.

"Thank you, Gaege." I wrapped my arms around him. He rested his head on top of mine. He started chuckling soon after though,

"What is it with you and always getting hurt in haunted places?" It was a valid question seeing every time I've been somewhere haunted, I've gotten hurt. I smile up at him,

"I guess I just draw bad shit to me. Anyway, I've got to go get my stuff, then we can keep going." I walked back to the other room. As I crossed the entranceway the heavy feeling came back. I felt sick. Like really sick, so sick in fact that I leaned over and threw up. Gaege holds my hair as I do, I notice that Mully walks to the middle of the room and grabs my camera and all of the other equipment including Eddie's bandana.

After getting me to stop throwing up for long enough to get out of the room, Gaege looked at me.

"With your best interest at heart, I don't think you should keep pushing yourself." His hands were on my shoulders. I listened to his words and self-reflected. In my self-reflection, I noticed that I didn't feel sick anymore. It honestly started to bother me.

"Gaege, please listen to me. I know I'm going to sound crazy, or like I'm lying so I can keep going, but, after I got out of that room I felt better. My stomach doesn't hurt anymore, the scratch on my back doesn't sting as much. I honestly think that that room is fucked up." He still seemed hesitant. So I decided to compromise.

"Okay, how about this, the rest of us will stay with y'all for the rest of the recording, and if I feel even the slightest bit off any more this night I will go back to the van?" He nodded his head and took his hands off my shoulders.

"Okay, but if anything feels wrong you tell me right then and there." I nod and rest my head against his chest. I kissed the top of my head and rocked me from side to side.

Eventually, we regrouped and headed on to the next and last building, the Powell building. The boys started recording again.

"Alright, so, you may have heard in the last clip the screaming of females. Well, shit went down in the girl squad who was here with us," Dose pans the camera towards us, with me in the middle, "You see (Y/N) got hurt. Depending on how she feels about it, we may have the clip of what happened to her here. Anyway, she got a big cut down the middle of her back. She was bleeding, however, like the champ she is, she brushed it off and is going to continue the video with us. Do know that if she suddenly disappears in the middle of the video, Juicy has put her on strict 'get the fuck out if you don't feel good' time." Mully starts.

Dose films us all walking up the main steps. The Georgia crest and pillars line the main entrance. Josh walks to the front door and pushes it open. A breeze runs past us. A chill settled on the group as a whole. I looked up at Gaege and gave him a half-hearted smile,

"We got this." I tried to be optimistic, even though I believe all of us had a bad feeling. He gave a reassuring nod and we all stepped into the building.