Chapter 115: New Experiment
A few hours later...
After completing our interviews, we had a quick dinner break before we began preparing to set up nerve centre outside under a small canopy, and to start setting up our static x cameras. However, before we could even begin setting up, we found out that lockdown had to be put on hold, because one of the locals had suffered a heart attack, or a stroke, and there were emergency crews parked outside the building.
Shortly after we found out, Zak had been called away by Billy via walkie talkie because something had come up with Pearl, the woman we interviewed earlier. While Zak was gone to find out what was going on, I sat on the wooden deck outside, staring down at "Big Nose Kate's Saloon", trying my best not to blame myself.
The scene outside the building right now was exactly what I had drew in one of my drawings during my latest Psychic Artistry episode, and I couldn't help feeling it had somehow been my fault – despite how ridiculous it sounded.
"Hey Munchkin, you okay?" I suddenly heard from my right side.
I turned to look in that direction and saw Aaron walking toward me, his camera still propped on his shoulder, and holding the grip by one hand. Whenever we were on investigations, he never went anywhere without at least one camera. It was kind of cute.
"Yeah, I guess," I replied, before turning my head to look back down at Kate's. I heard Aaron sit beside me on the wooden deck.
"Hey, come on...it's not your fault. There's nothing you could have done to stop it from happening," Aaron said gently.
I sighed quietly before turning to look at him again.
"But what if I had brought it up to the employees before it got dark, let them know about it? Maybe they could have had an ambulance on hand or something..." I said.
"Well, firstly, you would of had to get them to believe you. They don't have experience with this gift of yours like we do, and second, what would having an ambulance on hand done? It would of just scared everyone away and then whoever did have the heart attack or stroke might not have even been there," Aaron explained.
"But what if them not being there would of prevented them from having this happen at all? Maybe they would have been fine..." I replied softly.
I felt Aaron's free hand gently rub over my back in a soothing way to try to comfort me.
"I don't think it would of worked like that Munchkin. I know some paranormal events seem to trigger heart attacks and such, but I don't think that was the case here," Aaron started. "You can't let the 'what ifs' get to you, otherwise, you'll drive yourself crazy," Aaron finished.
I let out another sigh.
"I guess you're right," I said.
"Darn tootin!" Aaron replied, in a western accent, causing me to laugh, and he smiled.
"We can't have you going crazy, you're the sane one of the crew," Aaron said with a grin.
I laughed.
"If I was sane, I wouldn't of joined up in the first place," I joked, and Aaron laughed.
Before he could respond, I heard static emit from my walkie talkie hooked to my belt, before Zak's voice spoke as I unhooked the walkie from my belt.
"Ali? You there?" Zak asked.
"I'm here, go ahead," I replied, holding and then releasing the button on the walkie talkie so Zak could hear me.
"Can you find Aaron, and then come in to the office in front of the Bird Cage? Pearl had some new experiences, and we're thinking she should take part in the lockdown tonight," Zak replied.
Aaron and I both made similar expressions of surprise before I responded.
"Aaron's here with me now, we'll be right there," I replied, as Aaron and I stood up.
"Alright, awesome, see you in a few," Zak replied, and I hooked my walkie talkie back on my belt.
"I wonder what's going on?" Aaron asked as we made our way up to the front entrance of the Theatre, and Aaron pulled the door open and held it open for me.
"I don't know, guess we'll find out," I replied, taking one last look down the street at the scene outside of Kate's, mentally said a small prayer that the person affected would be okay, and then walked into the Theatre.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Aaron and I reached the door that had a sign on it, that read "Office", and Aaron knocked on the door.
"Zak?" He asked at the same time.
"Yep, come on in," Zak replied from inside.
Aaron opened the door and let me walk into the small office first, and then he followed behind me and closed the door behind us.
Pearl was sitting on an office chair across from the door, and Zak was sitting on a couch to the left of the door.
Billy was standing in one corner of the office with a camera, which I saw was recording.
"Hello again," I said, smiling at Pearl.
"Hi," she replied, smiling back.
Since the office was small, I decided to just lean against the edge of the desk near Pearl, while Aaron took a seat next to Zak, setting his camera down on his lap.
"Should I record?" Aaron asked, looking at Zak.
"Yeah, go ahead," Zak replied.
Aaron quickly adjusted a few things on the camera, in order to focus on Pearl and I, and then began recording, while Billy covered Aaron and Zak.
"So what's going on?" Zak asked, looking at Pearl. "I mean, we interviewed you guys yesterday, and like, what-what's going on?" Zak added.
I couldn't help momentarily staring at Zak. He was slouching down a bit on the couch, one of his long legs stretched out in front of him, and dressed up in that cowboy gear...
Focus Ali!
I quickly turned my attention to Pearl to hear her answer.
"I don't know what the spirits are trying to get across, or if they were angry – they made sounds, would not stop touching me, which is weird cause I usually get maybe one or two-" Pearl started.
"Where did you get touched Pearl?" Zak asked.
Pearl lifted one hand up to motion grabbing her breast, and my eyes widened in shock.
"They-" Pearl started, but Zak cut in.
"Really?" Zak asked.
"Yeah," Pearl responded.
"Has that happened before?" Zak asked.
"Not to me. I've heard stories where people say it's happened and I never believed them because, like okay, I highly doubt they would do that," Pearl responded.
"Everyone in this room knows this place is insanely haunted. We can't explain why these spirits are still here and able to touch you, that's why I'm really back here. So, I had an idea, can you help us out tonight?" Zak asked.
"Mm-hmm," Pearl responded.
"Alright, I was thinking that we could send you in tonight with Ashley – she did a scene earlier in a floozy dress – and we could send both of you in to see what happens," Zak said.
I managed not to laugh at his term "floozy dress", and didn't bother to correct him, since Pearl didn't seem offended. But I was a little surprised he was thinking of having Ashley do this experiment instead of me, but then I figured he probably didn't want to put me on the spot, knowing I'd most likely be uncomfortable with the idea considering my lack of physical intimacy with anyone. And yes, the idea made me a little uncomfortable, but it would probably look weird if I didn't do it, since I was a main part of the crew.
So...what the hell, time to play floozy...
"Yeah sure, that works," Pearl said.
"Alright, let me get Ashley in here-" Zak started, as he unhooked his walkie talkie from his belt to contact her, but I spoke up.
"Don't bother her Zak, she's probably busy helping set up," I started, as Zak looked over at me. I wanted to give the viewers a valid explanation of why I was just jumping in to suggest I do it. "I can do it," I added.
I saw the shock on his face, and in his eyes, briefly, before he quickly composed himself because of the cameras.
"Are you sure?" Zak asked, looking a bit more concerned than he probably should be, but there was nothing we could do now.
"Yeah, I'll be in there anyway, might as well," I said, then looked at Pearl. "That is, if you have a spare dress I could use," I added.
My...curves...were of larger measurements than Ashley's.
"Oh yeah, we should have something for you," Pearl said.
"Alright," I smiled and looked back at Zak. "We're good then," I said brightly, even though my stomach was full of butterflies.
"Okay..." Zak started, as he returned his walkie talkie to his belt. "This is good. I'm glad Pearl let us know about this, because it's now shifted gears in our investigation, for the better. So, um..." Zak trailed off, chuckling slightly, seemingly at a loss for words.
Aaron suddenly turned to look at Billy's camera.
"This just shows you just how on the fly we are-" Aaron started, and then Zak spoke up.
"Welcome to Ghost Adventures Crew. We're having two women in our lockdown tonight because we are hoping they get groped!" Zak said.
Aaron, Pearl and I all laughed.
~*~*~*~*~*~
After we discussed the details of where Pearl and I were to meet up with the guys after I got changed, we all left the office and walked outside to head our separate ways. But before I got very far with Pearl, Zak spoke up.
"Hey Ali? Can I talk to you for a second?" Zak called from a few feet away.
"I'll meet you inside," I said to Pearl, which would give her time to look through their dresses and pull out some that might fit me.
"Alright," she agreed, before heading over to a building across the street.
I turned and walked over to Zak, who was waiting on his own, as Aaron and Billy made their way toward nerve centre to grab some more equipment to set up for this new "experiment".
"What's up?" I asked, knowing what he most likely wanted to talk about, but we still had our microphones on, so I didn't want to say too much.
Zak seemed to struggle to find words for a moment before he reached up to his microphone.
"Turn your mic off," Zak said, as he turned his own microphone off.
I reached up to my microphone and turned it off as well. Now we could talk with no one else hearing, especially since a bar nearby was creating noise with awful karaoke.
Guess we're going have to wait for that to stop...ugh...
My thoughts were distracted when I felt Zak gently rest his hands on my bare arms.
"Are you sure you're okay with this? I only thought to ask Ashley to do it because I thought you would be uncomfortable...considering...you know..." Zak trailed off, looking slightly embarrassed.
"My lack of physical contact with anyone? I know, and I appreciate your thoughtfulness, but it'll seem weird to the audience if I'm just sitting in the shadows," I said.
Zak looked relieved that I knew what he was referring too, and then looked a bit concerned about my reasoning.
"I don't care what the audience thinks...if you're uncomfortable with this-" Zak started, but I cut him off by reaching up and gently pulled his arms down so I could hold his hands in mine.
"I'm fine, honest. A few butterflies, but I can manage," I said.
Zak gently squeezed my hands and stayed silent, his brow furrowing a bit with concern.
"Zak, it's alright. Spirits have touched me before," I said.
"Yeah...but not on your...no-no spots," Zak said.
"Did you really just refer to my breasts as 'no-no spots'?" I asked, unable to stop myself from laughing.
Zak laughed too, his cheeks flushing a bit.
"Yes! Because they are no-no spots, you're my girlfriend!" Zak retorted. "I was supposed to be the first man to touch you-" Zak added, with a smirk on his face, and his voice soft.
"No, no! We are not going there right now!" I exclaimed, my face flushing.
"Well, I think since there's a chance of spirits interfering, I should be able-" Zak started to say, clearly in a joking tone, but I cut him off.
"If you finish that sentence, I am going to kick you in YOUR no-no spot, you hear me?" I said, trying not to laugh.
"Yikes! Okay!" Zak retorted, jokingly pulling his hands free from mine as if he were afraid of me. "But if some spirit starts getting touchy feely with you, I'm NOT going to be happy," Zak pouted, and I couldn't help but laugh.
Mustering as much courage as I could, I stepped closer to him and leaned up near his ear.
"If they do, it won't count. You'll still be the first..." I said softly, and rather shyly, since I was basically admitting that he would be my first.
When I pulled my head back a bit to look up at Zak, he was staring down at me intently with a heated gaze. Before I could say anything else, he leaned down and gave me a quick, but still passionate, kiss on the lips, before pulling back and leaning close to my ear.
"I know I will," Zak said softly and I nearly felt my heart stop.
He stood back up at his normal height, with a smile on his face and he winked at me before turning his microphone back on.
"So, meet at the Bird Cage in about fifteen minutes?" Zak asked, as if nothing seriously hot had just happened.
I scrambled to turn my microphone back on and then did my best to gather my composure.
"Yep, see you in a few," I managed to say.
Zak smirked playfully at me before he turned and started walking toward "The Bird Cage Theatre" to help Aaron and Billy with setup.
Ohhhhhhhhh...god... I thought, as the realization of what I had just told him hit me like a brick wall.
I quickly turned and headed toward the building where Pearl was waiting for me, and scrambled my brain to get back into investigation mode.