“

Someone’s going to call the cops.”

“We’re cool,” Jason said. “Trust me. There’s one security guard for this whole complex. He doesn’t go into the buildings. As long as we’re inside the sanatorium before he gets back, we’ll be fine. We’re going to need to keep it quiet and dark. Cool?”

“What’s why we brought the goggles, right?” Alice replied.

“Yeah,” Jason agreed. “Trust me, Dave, I did my homework here.”

“I’m still not okay with this… we can’t publish any of these results…”

“Maybe not, but at least we can validate the equipment… Look, Dave, call it a dress rehearsal. We’ll get everything dialed in and when we do get permission to perform an investigation we’ll be all set.”

“Fine. Fine. Let’s just get in there.”

“Yes,” Jason looked at his watch, “We’ve got about twenty minutes. Follow me, stay in the shadows, and keep low.”

“I thought you said he was the only guard,” Alice asked.

“He is, but I’d rather not take any chances. Let’s go.” The three scurried from the dense trees by the perimeter chain link fence and along the trees bordering the parking lot. They emerged from the shadows following the weeds that used to be landscaping along the west wing of the dark, decrepit sanatorium building. Dave looked up the face of the building as they passed along, many of the windows broken out, the rest dark like dead eyes.

Reaching the front door, they found a heavy padlock in addition to the main entry door’s locks. “I thought you did your homework?” Dave asked accusingly.

“I’ve got this. Follow me,” and he started off along the east wing. Ahead a depression in the earth came into view, low rusty guard rails surrounding it on three sides. As they closed in on it, Dave saw that the fourth side was a stairway leading down into the dark earth. “Maintenance entrance,” Jason said as he bounded down the stone stairway. Alice looked at Dave, shrugged, then followed with Dave following her a beat later. When they reached the bottom, Jason had a penlight in his mouth illuminating the doorknob, his hands already working a set of lockpicks. An agonizingly long few minutes later, they heard a click and the door swung open. “Yes!” Jason put away his tools, pulled out a larger flashlight and shone it inside the room illuminating a cobweb-laden room with empty work tables running the length of two sides of the room. Jason’s flashlight fixed on a door set in the far wall. “That leads to the Sanatorium,” he said.

“You’re sure?” Dave asked.

“I pulled the blueprints on this place. I’m sure. Let’s get in and break out the equipment.”

They moved to one of the empty workbenches and unzipped their backpacks and quickly organized their equipment. They had practiced setting up numerous times, so before long, Dave turned on his bone induction mic along his jaw. “Check, check,” he said quietly.

“Hearing you fine,” Alice said. “Jason?”

“Roger that,” he said. “The recorder is picking all three of us,” he said as the waveforms danced on his channel on the digital display of the recorder. He turned the display off and stowed it in the side pocket of his backpack. He folded down the night vision goggles over his eyes and turned them off. The room became a dimly lit world of greens and black. He put away the flashlight and pulled out an infrared flashlight, turned it on and shone its invisible beam around the room which glowed like daylight in his night vision goggles.

“Video from all three body GoPros is recording,” Alice said closing a laptop and stowing it before flipping down her own goggles and retrieving an infrared flashlight.

“We’ve got data on the instruments,” Dave said checking the readout on his small tablet indicating ambient temperature, and electromagnetic radiation levels among other sensor data. He turned off the display and put it in the front pocket of his jacket and then flipped down his own goggles. “Ready to go. Jason? Do you have point?”

“I do,” Jason replied quietly, shouldering his backpack and moving through the complete darkness to the far door as the other two followed. The unlocked knob turned easily in Jason’s hand, the door opening with a creak on rusty hinges. They made their way up the service stairway to the main floor. From there Jason led them up to the third floor of the west wing – the “black floor” as it had become known.

The “black floor” was known to house the incurably insane and violent patients. It was also the floor where they experimented with frontal lobotomies, the failed patients living out their days on the black floor. They decided this would be the most likely area for contact.

As they made their way from the landing to the doorway to the black floor, Dave called for them to hold just outside so he could make a baseline reading. He almost asked if everyone was ready but knew they were – this was what they all had planned for.

Jason looked at Alice in the green and black vision. She nodded, and he opened the creaky door. Immediately they could feel the temperature markedly cooler there. Dave felt a foul, oppressive energy and a voice in his head screamed for them not to continue, but he fought back the fear by telling himself this was about the science and the instruments. And besides, they were all together. They’d be fine.

Inside the hallway, Dave verified the temperature had plummeted and the EMF detector kept spiking, though he knew that reading could be thrown off due to any number of anomalies – not necessarily anything paranormal.

Jason stopped. “Hear that?”

“Sounded like it came from there at the end,” Alice shined her infrared beam down towards an open doorway.

“Let’s go.”

Dave followed them, keeping one eye on their backs, another on the readings. EMF spiked and stayed spiked – unusual. He pulled out a camera and started snapping off pictures as they moved down the hallway.

Jason reached the open door with Alice just behind him, Dave a few more steps behind her. Ahead he saw Jason jerk backwards as if shoved with such force that Alice barely had time to dodge him. He staggered, but kept his feet, steadied himself, and stood stock still.

“Jason!” Alice started, “You okay? What was that?”

No response.

Dave stepped up next to Alice, now in direct view of the doorway they were heading to. He could sense a gale of overpoweringly rotten energy rushing out. He disregarded it, turning to Jason, “Hey man, you okay?”

No response.

Alice moved to touch his arm and he whipped it around and back, the movement somehow unnaturally quick and jerky. “Jason?” Alice asked.

The laughter from Jason’s mouth started low and built to a full cackle, the voice not Jason’s. As he laughed Alice and Dave exchanged panicked looks. Finally, Jason raised the night vision goggles, and through their goggles they could see his eyes had gone completely flat black – pupil, iris, and sclera. “Jason isn’t here to take your call right now,” the voice, a register higher and raspier than Jason’s, said. “If you’d like to leave a…a…a…a” it stuttered, “Message. He’ll get back to you from hell!” and the voice cackled again.

“Holy shit, Jason, this isn’t funny,” Alice said.

“Funny?” the voice shot back. “Funny? Nothing f-f-f-f-funny on the black floor. Nothing funny! Nothing funny!” It cried in near hysterics.

“Who are you?” Dave asked.

“Wouldn’t you, wouldn’t you, wouldn’t you like to know? Hahahaha!”

“Yes, we would,” Alice pressed. “Who are you?”

“You and your… toys,” the voice said, slapping at the GoPro on Jason’s shoulder. “My floor! My floor now! Why, why, why, why did you come? Why?! Why?!

“We mean you no harm…” Dave tried to calm the voice.

“They say that. They always say that. No harm! No harm! All you do is harm, harm, harm, harm….” He trailed off. “Harm… I’ll bring you harm!” and he ran towards the doorway the energy came from, but veered at the last second, colliding head first with the wall. “Hahahaha!” he cackled, staggering backwards. He turned towards Dave and Alice who could see blood streaming down Jason’s face. “No harm! No harm! No harm,” he repeated with glee.

Dave dropped his backpack and started rummaging through it.

“Please don’t hurt him or us. We came here to investigate and help you move on.”

“Move on? Move on?! Happy here! I’m in charge now! King of the castle, castle, castle! You come in here without my decree! Challenge me? Defend myself! Defend, defend, defend!” He started slapping Jason’s face, blood spattering off.

“We will leave. Just please leave our friend.”

“When I’m ready!” it snapped. “No sooner! Having my fun! Fun, fun, fun!” and started skipping in a small circle.

Dave came up from his backpack with a cross and several vials. Alice looked at him confused. “Brought these in case of emergency.” Then he nodded to Jason still skipping and singing nonsense, “Emergency.” He pulled the cap on one vial and flicked the contents at Jason. He screamed and staggered. “In the name of Jesus Christ, you will leave my friend!” Dave commanded as he held the cross in front of him like a shield.

“Stop my fun?” Jason’s blood-streaked face looked confused.

Still brandishing the cross, Dave popped the cap off the second and flicked the water at Jason.

Jason screamed again and staggered backwards again. “Not at full power – I would squish you and you and him,” he pointed at himself. “Squish, squish, squish,” he repeated.

Dave moved closer, cross up, and commanded again, “In the name of Jesus Christ, you will leave my friend!”

Dave readied another vial, when the voice said flatly, “Fine.” And Jason slumped limply to the ground.

Sensing the ghost wasn’t giving up, Jason yelled, “Alice, drop!” She reacted instinctively, dropped flat as Jason threw the vial at her prone body. He could sense the spirit rush towards her and carom off as the liquid struck her. He sensed the energy zipping around the room and rush at him. He barely moved the cross to block the vector he sensed the energy darting in on. It made another round, but finding no purchase began to zip and dissipate. “Alice!” Dave yelled as he moved towards Jason, keeping low. She snapped to her feet, staying low as well. They draped the limp Jason’s arms over their shoulders and half dragged him down the hallway as quickly as they could. As they neared the doorway to the main corridor, they heard a voice echo from the end, “Come back soon. I’ll be stronger then. I promise, promise, promise…”