“Ghost Infiltration” by Kate I checked my pack one last time for the necessary equipment for the day’s outing. “Nalgene…full. First aid kit…got that. Cell phone…yup. Camera, spare batteries, spare film…uh huh. Mini Maglite, full-size Maglite…got both. Medical ID tags…yup. Wire cutters—Dan, what the hell are wire cutters doing in my backpack?!” I demanded, rounding on my companion. He shrugged. “There might be barbed wire around the entrances. You never know.” I sighed and put them back in my pack, zipped it shut, and slung it over my shoulders. Ever since I’d met Dan, he’d been bringing me along on crazy expeditions, exploring storm drains, abandoned buildings, and other places no sane person would go. I thought that this was a little odd, but being bored and tired of “normal” teenage kid activities, decided to go along for the ride. Today, the plan was to find a way into the cave system of a local (abandoned) brewery. Dan eyed my jeans, running shoes, and black T-shirt. “Katie, I hope you’re not too fond of those shoes. Some of the passages we’ll be exploring will probably be flooded.” I rolled my eyes. Dan had this way of thinking that I was a typical girl, more interested in footwear than history or adventure. “Trust me, I knew what I was getting into when I agreed to go today. These are my work shoes, and a little water won’t hurt them.” He took his tripod and camera bag out of his trunk, then slammed it shut and clicked the “LOCK” key on his chain. We heard the locks secure, then walked into the nearby municipal park—for all the world looking like two college kids out for a romantic stroll to watch the sun rise. Ha. Under the cover of early morning dusk, we sneaked through the park and found our way to the chain-link fence that bounded the old brewery. “We’re lucky,” Dan whispered to me. “Someone’s already cut a hole for us to climb through.” Sure enough, there was a gap in the fence that I could easily fit through. With Dan watching for police or other early risers out for a walk, I slipped through the gap and dashed to a spot of relative safety behind a pile of broken machinery. Moments later, he caught up with me and together we began our search of the building, hoping to find a door that had been jimmied open. Before too long, we’d picked up a crowbar, but then discovered it wouldn’t be necessary. One door, about three feet from the ground, was hanging slightly open. Dan pushed it open further, switched on his flashlight, and took a look inside. Then he signaled to me to climb in after him. After I had, I turned on my flashlight as well and glanced around nervously. The place was musty, dusty, and smelled funny—plus I was getting a bad vibe. I put it down to nervousness and ventured farther in, noting the graffitied walls, garbage strewn everywhere, and varied fire extinguishers in the oddest of places. I snapped a flash photo of the room, temporarily blinding Dan, who had found a vertical shaft leading to a cellar of some sort. When his vision cleared, we climbed down the ladder into a low-ceilinged room with a soft dirt floor. Shining our flashlight beams into the far corners, we realized that there was nothing of interest in this cellar, and no way to get into the other chambers. After clambering back out of that space, Dan spotted a staircase leading to what looked like the skyway into the next building. He snapped a few pictures of the walls and broken machinery, and then we ventured up the stairs, through the skyway, and into the stockhouses. Here we strolled through the building, taking in the experience as a whole. (Dan stole a “Caution: Caustic” sign and put it in my backpack for safekeeping.) Before too long, we found a way down to the ground floor again, where we found the entrance to the cave systems. I froze. My flashlight threw its beam down the stair to the cave system, and I could hear footsteps. Intermittent footsteps, but footsteps nonetheless. Dan sighed and nudged me downwards. “It’s just the water dripping, Katie. Relax.” At the very least, I unfroze and gingerly tiptoed down into the tunnels, Dan following just behind. My feeling of foreboding became stronger with each step—until I saw the architecture. My jaw dropped. It was half natural, half brick, with dirt floors and all sorts of piping throughout the place. To say the least, I was amazed. I flipped my long braid back over my shoulder and moved forward, ignoring the nagging sensation that something in these caves wasn’t quite right. We moved through passages with still water, passages with moving water, and rooms with slippery mud. At one point, I nearly fell into a large puddle, fortunately, Dan caught my hand and steadied me. We reached a dead end, which was somewhat puzzling. These caves stretched under the entire brewery, and I knew we couldn’t have traveled that far yet. I swept the beam of my light around the smallish room we stood in, and Dan gasped. Just below my waist level was a crawl tunnel. Dan crouched and looked through, then got up and shook his head. “Even if I thought I could get through there, it’s not worth trying. It says that that’s a dead end too.” I was slightly confused by this, and thus looked through the tunnel myself. I didn’t see anything, I was hit by a wave of such intense, out-of-body rage that I paled visibly and backed off, then noticed something odd—the crawl tunnel now seemed blocked off as well. I turned to Dan, about to tell him to leave quickly, but as he was already on his way out I didn’t think it necessary. Before long, we were back in one of the first chambers, also one of the smallest. I stood in the middle and could almost reach out and touch each of the walls. Dan was a few feet to my right, with one hand on the wall, when suddenly he asked me, “Do you feel it too?” I nodded. “I want to channel this spirit, “ he continued. “Turn out your light.” I did so, and he switched his off as well. For a while, my eyes just adjusted to the dark. Then, I could feel the angry presence growing stronger, and I glanced to my left (needlessly, I told myself, there’s nothing there to see). That’s when I saw it. Ten feet to my left was a human-shaped blue haze. Had it had facial features, it would have been staring straight at me. For a moment, it was perfectly still, then I saw it shake its head and raise what looked like a fist. I held its gaze, desperately trying to communicate to this astral being that we weren’t there to harm it, we were only interested in photographing the place. Unfortunately, the ghost didn’t understand what I was trying to say. It began moving towards me, and it couldn’t wish me any good. I screamed, flipped on my light, and shone it directly at the spot where the ghost had been. There was only a solid wall, but as I flung myself at Dan, who automatically wrapped his arms around me, I heard a distinct voice say, “Get out.” I pulled frantically at Dan’s hands, dragging him along with me as I ran for the stairs out of this awful place. I didn’t stop running until I was once again aboveground, but then sank down onto the ground and began to weep; I was so unnerved by what I had seen. Dan knelt next to me, placing a reassuring hand on my shoulder, and asked me what I had sensed. I sobbed out my story, breaking down when I told him that it had begun to move towards me. He nodded grimly. “Dan, I know you’re thinking that you want to go back. I can’t do it. I can’t.” He slipped an arm around me and gave me a quick hug. “I’m not going there again, Katie, I know that was an unfriendly ghost. But you have to wonder…how did it get there, and why does it want to stay hidden so badly?” To be continued…?
wow great story i may have miss read it, but i like the fact that dan was scared and u werent grat story keep it up
Thanks for the feedback, but it was actually the other way around--I was terrified, and Dan kept his cool.
beyond awesomeness i loved it (by the way,i've written a few songs,they're on here,wanna check em out ) lol well done,well done