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There isn’t much Tim Bradford is afraid of. Losing Lucy tops that list. Angela scares him sometimes. Nyla scared him once. Although he’d never admit that to anyone. He’s scared of disappointing the people he loves. And maybe snakes. But he most certainly is not afraid of ghosts. Nope. No matter what anyone says… He is not afraid of ghosts.
How he ended up in an abandoned asylum with his girlfriend attached to his back and his friends exploring elsewhere he doesn’t know. Actually he does. Lucy could be very convincing when she wanted to be. And she had done stuff to convince him to go on a ghost hunt with her, Angela and Wesley, and Nyla and James for “date night”.
“You know when you said group date, this isn’t exactly what I had in mind Luce.” Tim grumbled as he moved the flashlight back and forth as they walked down the corridor they were in.
“Oh come on Tim! It’s spooky season. And you have to admit… this is kind of fun.” Lucy wraps moves from behind him to next to him and wraps her hands around the arm carrying the flashlight.
And for Tim, fun was any time spent with Lucy. Even if it meant investigating a supposedly haunted former asylum. He rolled his eyes and gave Lucy a fond look. As much as he could in almost complete darkness and pressed his lips to hers smiling.
They’re broken apart by a sudden slamming noise coming from the opposite direction they were headed. “Did you hear that?” Lucy moved to stand behind Tim once again while he quickly turned to flash the light down the dark side of the hallway.
“Of course I did. It was probably just something falling. This place is decrepit.” Tim mumbled. He could feel Lucy begin to shake as she held tightly onto his shoulder.
“Yeah you’re probably right.”
“Should we go see what it was?” Tim asked, giving Lucy the power to decide.
Her eyes locked on his and she searched his face for a moment before looking down the dark hallway once again. “Yeah let’s go.” She finally said putting on a brave face.
They switched their direction and began slowly walking back where they had come from. Pausing every so often to shine the flashlight into each room they passed. So far nothing seemed out of the ordinary and it didn’t look like anything had fallen.
They’re just reaching the end of the long passage which has a door that leads to the outside of the building and hallways on either side that lead to other parts of the asylum. Tim points the light down the hallway on the right and sees nothing. And just as he and Lucy turn around to shine the light in the hallway on the left, they are greeted by four faces standing extremely too close to them.
“Fuck!” Tim yells and Lucy jumps back, her breathing rapid and hand over her chest.
“Jesus Christ guys! A little warning would have been nice.” Lucy finally breathes out.
“And where’s the fun in that?” Angela laughs. “The look on Bradford’s face was worth it alone.”
“Very funny.” Tim grumbles, wrapping his arm around Lucy’s shoulder as she curls into his side. “Did you guys see anything?”
“No. You?” James asks.
“Nothing.” Lucy pouts.
“Well come on.” Nyla walks ahead of the group and turns around so she’s walking backwards. “We have a lot more of this place to explore.”
The six of them make their way from hallway to hallway… talking, joking and laughing. The guys are cracking jokes about needing to protect their women and the girls are not impressed. They share incredulous looks with each other and then glare at their respective men.
“If anyone needs protecting, it’s going to be you three.” Angela is the one to speak and she wiggles her finger between the guys. That shuts them all up. Each one, slightly afraid of Angela, in their own way.
The night continues on, as they explore every hallway and make their way to each floor of the building. They begin talking about calling it a night when the conversation is interrupted by another loud crash and what sounds like footsteps.
“Holy shit. What was that?” Wesley asks, shining his flashlight back and forth. Do you think someone else is here?”
“No. Barely anybody knows this place is here. I only knew about it because the groundskeeper was a witness in one of my cases.” His wife answers him.
“Oh it was probably just the groundskeeper then.” Tim tries to reason.
“Doubtful.” Angela shoots back. “He said he was on his way out of town for his daughter’s wedding. Wouldn’t be back for a few days. Plus what groundskeeper do you know that does his work in the middle of the night?”
The six of them cautiously make their way towards where the noise came from. Lucy is once again practically glued to Tim’s back. Hovering behind him.
“Are you okay baby?” Tim whispers.
“Just fine.” She squeezes his bicep in response and maybe a little too hard because she doesn’t let go.
“Then can I have my arm back?” Tim grips her fingers and removes her hand but slots their fingers together.
“Sorry.” She squeezes his hand in hers gently and he kisses her temple, letting her know it was okay.
“Do you guys feel that?” Nyla stops in her tracks.
“What?” James asks his wife.
“I swear it just got like ten degrees colder in here.”
The group nods but doesn’t put too much thought into after that. They continue their journey around the hallways and hear footsteps again for the second time that night.
“HELLO!” Tim calls out. “Who’s there? We’re police officers.”
“Tim!” Lucy slaps him. “What are you doing?”
“What if it’s some stupid teenagers Luce?”
“And what if it’s a deranged serial killer Tim?” Lucy shoots back.
He shoots her a look with his brow raised but can’t keep the smile off his face at his girlfriend’s expression.
They all turn their heads when they hear what sounds like one of the many doors opening and then the footsteps getting louder and more frequent.
“Okay. I think that’s our cue to leave.” Wesley turns around and starts heading in the opposite direction. Everyone else shrugs and starts following him.
“I didn’t think this place was actually haunted.” Lucy chokes out. “I thought it was just one of those stories that gets thrown around.
“Come on. You don’t think the place is haunted, right Luce?” Tim laughs at first but his expression turns serious when he sees five faces staring back at him with their eyebrows raised.
“I’m sorry babe. Did you not hear the footsteps back there?” That were coming from nowhere?”
“Yeah. I did. But I mean.. Come on… Guys… There’s an explanation I’m sure. Ghosts aren’t real.”
At that Angela bursts out laughing at her best friend. “I assure you Tim. Ghosts are absolutely real. And I’ve seen my fair share.”
The group, minus Wesley, whip their heads in her direction, waiting for some sort of explanation.
“Okay so I was-” she starts.
A groan comes from Wesley before he interrupts his wife. “Please don’t get her started.” Angela slaps her husband"s chest but takes pity on him and doesn’t continue.
“So wait.” Tim starts in. “Does everyone here believe in ghosts?”
Five heads nod yes, but the one he’s most surprised at is the beautiful woman attached to his side.
“Really Luce?”
“You don’t Tim?”
“No. We see enough horror in this life, we don’t need to be thinking about the afterlife.
“That wasn’t a no.” James points out.
“Okay. Alright. Guys seriously. There are no ghosts here.” Tim laments.
As the last word leaves his mouth, they hear another noise at the end of the hallway their standing in and three flashlights turn just in time to see a shadowy figure move from one side to the other and then disappear into a room.
“Still don’t believe in ghosts Tim?” Lucy pokes her boyfriend in the chest.
The group moves in the direction of the apparition and Tim is praying that they find a human in the room, that they just watched the figure disappear into. No luck. When they get to the room, they find it empty. Save for a wire cot and a chair that had definitely seen better days. There’s a window on the far wall big enough that someone could have fit through it. And Tim could have easily explained that the person, whoever they were, simply jumped out. Not expecting other people to be around they took off. Except, they were on the third floor and that jump would have no doubt killed whoever attempted it.
“It was probably just one of our shadows.” Tim tries to explain away what they just saw.
“From what light source? Nyla deadpans.
“And none of us were moving.” Angela adds.
“Okay, I admit. It was weird but I don’t think it was a ghost.”
“Whatever it was. Let’s just get out of here. I don’t feel safe here anymore.” Lucy grabs Tim’s hand and squeezes it tight earning her a worried look.
“Baby-” Tim whispers, leaning his forehead against hers.
Lucy shakes her head, subtly telling Tim to drop it. “Tim! I want to go. Can we please go?”
“Lucy’s right. We should get out of here.” Wesley grabs Angela’s hands and begins making his way towards the flight of stairs they climbed to get up here.
The rest of the group follow behind and soon enough they make it outside, and here a car drive by in the distance and there is a collective sigh of relief, even if no one wants to admit it.
“Well this was fun.” Nyla chuckles looking around the circle.
“Yeah. We should do it again sometime.” Lucy rolls her eyes but gives a small laugh, before leaning into Tim.
They all make their way to their cars and bid everyone one more goodnight before heading their separate ways. Tim gets in his truck and grabs Lucy’s hand. They’re the last ones to leave and just as he’s about to back out of the parking lot, he’s not sure what makes him glance up at the abandoned building but he does. And he sees a figure standing in one of the windows on the third floor, where they just were fifteen minutes ago. The hair on his body stands on end and Lucy can feel him stiffen, their hands still intertwined.
“Babe.” Lucy shakes his hand. “Are you okay?”
Tim tears his gaze away from the building and looks over at his beautiful girlfriend and smiles. “Yeah baby. I’m good. Let’s go home.” He leans over and gives her a small kiss.
When he looks back up to the third floor, the figure is no longer there.
Ghosts are not real. He tries to convince himself.
Ghosts are not real.
Right?