Entering the prison happened much the same way entering the Peters Building did - we met a man who we soon found out was the caretaker outside the building. He was just about as decrepit as the building was. Like last time, Caitlin and I stayed outside to entertain him while Luke and Liam went inside the building to get set up. Somehow, even in Nevada, there was a bit of a chill in the air, and I pulled my arms around myself, trying to keep in as much heat as I could. The caretaker at this building wasn’t nearly as charismatic as Nancy had been, and while Caitlin managed to chat along and hold a good conversation with the man, but I couldn’t help the fact that my mind kept drifting off to other topics.
Eventually, Luke called us into the building. The caretaker handed Caitlin the keys and walked off, telling us that he would be back at 5 AM to collect the keys from us. Then he immediately started hobbling toward his pickup - apparently, he wasn’t as much of a fan of chatting as Nancy was, either.
We walked inside of the Williamsville Bastion, and I could have sighed at the relative heat stored within its walls. I mean, it was still chilly as there was a definite draft, but compared to outside, it was relatively comfortable. But the temperature was the only thing that I would ever be able to say that about.
I admittedly hadn’t been to many old prisons during my life, even to help ghosts. I’d been to plenty of modern day prisons when I was helping the police with their investigations, but there was something that was significantly less eerie than what was in this building. The first room we walked into was assumedly the reception room, and even though the only barred off areas were the two doors that headed farther into the building, I couldn’t help but feel the overwhelming sense of being trapped. It was like the prison was a magnet, and once you got here, your soul didn’t want to leave.
Granted, it could have just been my imagination. It’d been a long week, after all.
Luke unfolded a metal chair and sat in front of a camera that was pointed at what was once the receptionist's desk. “We thought that the best way to handle this is for Liam and I to talk about the history of the place,” he started, as Liam pulled another chair to him, “and then we’ll have Andi jump in after a while so we can get her take. After such a heavy-hitting episode with the exorcism, we thought it would probably be best to keep it more to just us if possible.”
Caitlin nodded. “I think that’s a good plan - Andi hasn’t officially been announced as a full-time third member of the channel, so we want to keep the focus on you two for now.”
I had stopped paying attention to them, though, because as they discussed their strategy for filming, a man peaked his head into the doorway. I had to assume he was a ghost because the bars on the door didn’t seem to stop him at all. I breathed a silent sigh of relief that the little girl had been an anomaly and it wasn’t as though I had suddenly lost the ability to see ghosts.
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The man was older and wearing what looked like a worn three piece suit and a flat cap. He was brunette and clean-shaven save for a mustache that looked like it had been meticulously cared for. He watched Luke and Liam talking for a moment, then ducked back behind the door. I shrugged it off and went back to watching the guys for another moment before he returned with another man in tow. This man had a similar clothing style to the first one, but his head just showed his blonde hair instead of a cap.
The brunette walked through the door and gestured for the blonde to follow, which he did seemingly uneasily. Neither were paying attention to me, and were instead just focused on Luke and Liam talking, which wasn’t wholly surprising, but was a tad unusual for me. Usually, spirits were pretty quick to be able to tell who has able to see them and who wasn’t, and they would immediately flock to the people who could see them.
As if thinking along a similar line as I was, the brunette walked in front of Luke and wave his hand directly in front of his face. “Hello?” he asked, then sighed when he got no response. “It’s just another group of people with these newfangled machines,” he told his friend, pointing over his shoulder at the camera. “It’s no use trying to talk to them, but maybe we can mess with their equipment.”
“What about her, boss?” the blonde said, pointing at me. I hadn’t even noticed him noticing me, but when I looked his direction, his eyes were locked on mine. “You can see us, can’t you?” he asked. I nodded.
“Hot diggity dog,” the brunette said, clapping his hands together and walking toward me. “Listen, both my friend here and I were killed and buried under these floors. They found a lot of the bodies from the riots, but because they were so focused on that, they never found us too. I guess they assumed we escaped and wouldn’t be found. But we’re still trying to get out - any chance you can give us a hand?” I nodded again, and the brunette squinted his eyes at me. “What, are you dumb or something?”
I shook my head this time, then put my pointer finger to my lip to indicate that I was being quiet, and then pointed toward Luke and Liam. I wasn’t being particularly subtle about it because my view of them was blocked by the man. I just kind of forgot that they couldn’t see him.
The brunette turned to look where I was pointing, and I could see Liam looking at me with curiosity. He allowed Luke to finish his sentence, then said “Before we go on, I think Andi was trying to get our attention.”
I smiled sheepishly. “I really wasn’t,” I said. “Sorry about that, I kind of forgot that you could see me.” I waved at them dismissively, hoping they’d get back to filming.
They looked at each other as Caitlin turned to stare at me. “What the fuck do you mean that you forgot they could see you?” she asked before they got a chance to respond.
“Well, I couldn’t see them, so I forgot that they could still see me,” I answered, feeling heat rushing to my cheeks.
“Did you go blind or what?” she asked.
“It can’t be the demon again,” Liam said, quickly getting to his feet. “Nobody else seemed to be in the dark, right?”
“I wasn’t in the dark,” I quickly explained, putting my hands up to halt them before they started getting too out of control. “I’m sorry, I should have just explained better - I couldn’t see you because one of these ghosts was blocking the way. I just forgot that you couldn’t also see them, is all.”