The setting sun was creeping through the thick fog, I set up my camera to record an open field with wood fences from the surrounding farms. Shifting the iris up to 4, I prayed the film wouldn't be under-exposed. All the light readers at our school were broken by the first years, so I've been guessing as to how much light was outside. The light has been pretty good because of the fog creeping in. It's essentially magic hour up until dusk. Despite not having proper equipment, my crew has been shooting a nature documentary about Bend, Oregon. Exciting stuff, really. The subject matter might be akin to watching grass grow, but everything looks gorgeous in the fog. The forest is a big step up from the rest of Bend, which doesn't inspire much awe. If I wasn't going to school here, I'd probably shoot myself. I heard a crunching of sticks behind me that sent a chill down my spine. I heard my friend's voice, "Is that B-roll?" "The whole film is B-roll." My friend Clancy stopped next to me, "I guess that would make it A-roll then." Clancy is our sound guy, we got all the interviews done on the first day, so he's been getting high and recording birds and wind for the past 3 days. I sighed, "Do you know if Derrick finished yet?" "He left an hour ago with the girls to get to the party." I noticed that Clancy was carrying, the other Arriflex and the tripod, "Did that asshole leave you with all his gear?" "Yeah, but he took the film," he replied. "Right, the heaviest part," I said. "It is the heaviest part if you consider the ultimate destiny of the movie," He articulately replied. "Well let me carry the NAGRA, I'm just wrapping up," I said. The two of us stood there for another 30 seconds until the film ran out of the camera. Clancy handed me his backpack with the tape recorder and started a joint with the other hand. We passed it between each other as we moved all the gear down the hill into his station wagon. I sat passenger side and watched his eyes try and widen as he gripped the steering wheel. "Are you gonna be alright, buddy?" I asked. He put his arm around the seat to look behind him and said, "I'll be fine, man, relax." The car jolted backwards and his back fender crumpled against a rock. I looked at him, exasperated; today was a lot, I just wanted to get home. After Clancy recoiled from the hit, he sheepishly pulled out and said, "Ah, it's all love, man."
Clancy pulled into the school's parking lot and assessed the damage on his fender. It was spotless, Clancy continues to be the luckiest guy I know. Clancy opened the trunk and I tossed my dark bag over the camera. Once I had the film in their tins, the two of us went up to the school's developing room. Bend, Oregon has a shitty school in the middle of nowhere, but for one reason or another, they had a lot of money for the arts. Combine that with their loose acceptance policies, and a film nerd from Michigan like myself can work with Super 16. I should just leave for Los Angeles at this point, but I have someone keeping my attention set on Bend. Clancy and I arrived at the photo development lab on the second floor. The room was covered with developed photos hanging from other students, there were two guys playing chess on one of the tables. "Jackson," I said. Both of the students playing chess looked up to me, the guy playing white said, "Whataya want, Donny?" "I want my daily's from yesterday, and I want to develop this roll." Jackson let out a dramatic sigh, "Alright, you want a cup of coffee while you wait for this game to be over?" I let out an even more dramatic, overdrawn sigh, "Ugh, you guys aren't even using a timer. C'mon, Bobby Fischer, Spassky can wait, I need this ready by tomorrow." "Tomorrow?" Jackson said, "You're crazy if you think I can work that fast." "I'm not sure you can work at all, but if you do me a favor, I'll set you up with one of Veronica's friends." Jackson scoffed at me, "I refuse to believe you have any pull or favorability with any of your girlfriend's friends." "We can't all be social butterflies, but some of us have the gift," I replied. "I saw the footage your partner Derrick brought in, you should be asking me to burn it." Jackson said. "What's that supposed to mean?" I asked. "All of his stuff was under-exposed." As soon as I heard him say that, I felt my face go red. I had told Derrick on numerous occasions between pre-production to a few hours ago to use the right exposure. My expression changed and Jackson started regretting his words, Clancy stepped in to mediate, "Listen guys, I know we haven't been on the best of terms since the fiasco at Tyler Miller's Birthday bash, but if we don't bury the hatchet soon, I'll fail this class and my parents will make me join the army." The room calmed down a little bit. I spoke up first, "Can we just agree to do it for Clancy?" Jackson thought for a second, "Alright fine, but no more favors, we're square." I was relieved, "Thank you Jacky." Jackson nodded, "But all of you promise me that you'll never bring up the Birthday again, nor ever mention to Debra Wilson that it was me in the bathroom that night. I should be the one to tell her." We all promised and said our good nights. Clancy drove me to the women's dorms so I could have sex with my girlfriend and forget about all the film I just lost to Derrick's stupidity.
To spare you the gory details, I stopped halfway through. My girlfriend turned to me, "Is something wrong, babe?" She asked. "It's the goddamn film, Veronica. I told him, iris at 4, don't touch it. God, I feel like a fucking idiot." She rolled her head around and pushed the hair out of her eyes, "I don't think you're an idiot." "Thanks," I said calmly. "And I think you're smart enough to figure out how to fix it. What if you do that thing? That thing you did in the ghost movie." "Double exposure?" I asked. She yawned, "I think so, I loved that movie." "It wasn't very scary." "No, it wasn't, but it was like watching something that could have actually happened. You're very original, you know?" I let it go, she knew how to get me to stop complaining, but I was still upset about it. I wrapped my arms around her lazily and pushed my head into her ribcage. She must have felt that I wasn't smiling and asked, "You're still upset about it, aren't you?" "I am, terribly upset by it." I replied. "Why don't you goto the party? You'll feel better after you drink a little bit." "Will you come with me?" She stopped, "No, I have to pull an all nighter and finish my English paper." I dug the top of my head into her armpit, "Can't you just drop out and carry me back to your parents in Los Angeles?" She pushed my forehead meekly away and looked at me seriously. "What?" I asked. "I know you're not joking, quit it." "What? I know you don't want to go back to your fascist parents without an english degree in hand, and this fucking school is ripping me limb from limb, but I'll wait for you. Even though when I'm with you, all I can think about is this shitty town and the shitty people who need rigorous brain surgery to be able to work with a camera. Even though the only thing that makes me happy is you, and having to think about Derrick makes my dick numb, I'll stay." I crossed my arms in protest and silence filled the room. "Do you still not want to goto the party?" she asked me. "I'll go," I said, tumbling out of bed and into my pants. I kissed her goodnight and skipped down the stairs with a displeased energy. I stepped out into the night sky of the dorm patio and started my third cigarette of the day. I scanned my environment for a payphone to try and call for someone to come pick me up. But then, in the corner of my eye, I spotted Clancy's station wagon parked at the same space he dropped me off at. I approached the window and knocked on the glass. Clancy rolled the window down and I was hit with the stench of grass. "Have you been out here this whole time?" I asked; it had been like 30 minutes. "Huh? Yeah, once you got out, I lit up another joint and thought about whether I should wait for you or not." "Well, do you mind taking me to the party?" "Oh yeah, I was supposed to be there." I stepped into the passenger seat, the doors were unlocked. On the dashboard, there was a post-it note that read: "Wait for Donny" and "Don't wait for Donny" with a slash dividing them and an underline beneath. There were 5 tallies under both choices. I didn't know if each tally represented a reason supporting one choice, or if the tally's were some arbitrary point system based on something out of or within Clancy's control. I decided not to question it and asked him, "Are you ready to go?" He paused for a second and said, "Not yet man, I haven't decided whether to wait for you or not." We sat in silence for a little bit, "Well I'm already here, so-" I was interrupted by Clancy's hand on my chest, he was pointing out the front window, "Look!" A firework had gone off in the distance, Clancy turned to me and smiled, "That's six points to wait for Donny! Let's rock and roll!" Clancy added another tally to the post-it note and looked ahead with a confused expression. The car wasn't moving. "Buddy?" I asked. "I gotta wait for Donny." "Do you want me to drive, man?" "That would be for the best, Donny." I drove with Clancy to the party, on the way he explained that the point system was based on what he saw in front of him. If he saw something awesome, he added a point to waiting for me, if he saw something lame, he would add a point towards leaving. It was always a tied score, so he sat there for half an hour while I tried to have sex with my girlfriend. The two of us arrived at the party unscathed, Clancy stumbled to the front door of the suburban house and was greeted by my friend from 4th semester, Daniel Collins. Daniel dropped out last year to go to LA and decided to stop by for the week to visit relatives. I hugged him tightly. We went outside to watch the fireworks and take shots, after that it faded to black. The last thing I remember was being happy Daniel visited.
I woke up the next morning inside my apartment with my girlfriend next to me. I woke her up, "When did you get in?" "Last night." she moaned. "Last night?" I asked; she was up, "You called me last night, I came by, and you carried me up the stairs." "I carried you up the stairs? There's no fucking way I carried you up the stairs." "Every last one of them, and then you fell asleep on top of me." "Oh…" "But then you woke up and just started plowing me to death." "Did I really?" "I don't know, maybe." Somehow I knew she wasn't lying. She sat against the bed post and asked, "So what's for breakfast?" "Eggs." I replied. Cut to: Int. My apartment, Veronica sits at the kitchen bar as Donatello Martins cooks scrambled eggs. Donatello Martins: "Darlin' you're gonna love these eggs, these eggs." Veronica laughs delightedly, Veronica: "Darlin' I can't wait." I put the plates down and we started eating. If this was a movie, the eggs would do something interesting. I finished eating and walked over to Eric's room to wake him up. Eric said good morning and the three of us walked to school together. Not much on the way to school from my apartment. It's a nice walk through some residential streets, and a shortcut through the woods. Once we got on campus, we all said goodbye and went to our own classes. I had a few minutes because my professor, Mr. Whitehall is famously tarty from every class. I went to the school's cafeteria and saw him buying a coffee, "Hello Mr. Whitehall," I said. "Martins, how are you?" "Shitty." "What happened?" "My crew ruined an entire reel of film." "Sound like you need a new reel of film." "Very perceptive, professor." "Well, I teach film." I couldn't argue with that logic, so I shifted the conversation to hockey. As we were nearing the class, Mr. Whitehall stopped and remembered something, "I got a phone call about someone needing help filming something about ghosts, if you help them, I'm sure they'll lend you some film if they have any left over." "That sounds serendipitous." "Yeah, well serendipity can be a bitch." We entered class and everyone was looking at me sideways. I tried my best to ignore it and sat next to Clancy. I said my hello's to Clancy and class started. Everyone showed their daily footage and class got dismissed early. I approached Derrick to have a conversation about the film, I tapped him on the shoulder and he recoiled when he saw me, he had a nasty looking black eye. "Jesus, what happened to you?" I asked. Derrick looked pissed, "What happened? You sucker punched me at the party!" "I did?" "Well, it was a fair fight, but I'm still pissed I lost." I was in shock, I had no memory of challenging Derrick to a duel. And Derrick used to box, so I must have outmatched him too. "I don't remember anything from that night, but you underexposed the entire roll of film, so I need you to pay for a new one." "Man, get the fuck out of my face, you're lucky I didn't call the cops, we're square." I was fucked, if I didn't get the money for a new roll, Clancy would surely be shipped out to the military. I ran up to Clancy and asked him what I did last night. Clancy looked up and tried to remember, just as he was about to speak, some dude from another program fist bumped me out of the blue, "Dude, you were insane last night." Those words sent a chill down my spine, "What did I do?" "You were drinking like crazy, won beer pong 5 times in a row, you kicked Derrick Miller's ass as soon as he came through the door, which is crazy because he used to box, and then you started making out with Sarah Mitchell. After about 25 minutes you left with Clancy and Daniel." "I made out with Sarah Mitchell? Clancy, why didn't you tell me about this!?" Clancy snapped his fingers in recognition, "Oh yeah, you did, I was kind of out of it while we were in the house, I don't like cramped spaces." My head wouldn't stop shaking, "Fuck, Veronica is gonna kill me, I gotta go find her." I ran off towards her English class, I peeked through the glass and saw her. I tried to get her attention, but I ended up getting the attention of Sarah Mitchell, who was sitting right next to her. Sarah waved, and my heart sank as she said something to the other girl sitting on the other side of Veronica. She must have said something along the lines of, "That's the guy I fooled around with last night," because Veronica overheard and lazily looked over to the idiot in the window. Our eyes locked and her expression changed. It was an expression that seemed to say, "Get the fuck away from me right fucking now." So I walked back to the parking lot and sat next to Clancy who was carrying two hotdogs. "How'd it go?" Asked Clancy, "Shitty," I replied. He handed his second hotdog to me and we ate in silence.
A blue BMW 320-I pulled into the parking lot, the driver stepped out. He wore a high school varsity jacket and an eyepatch, he started a cigarette and leaned against his door. Mr. Whitehall approached him, and the two shook hands and began talking. Halfway into their conversation, Mr. Whitehall turned around and saw me, he waved me over. Clancy and I approached the blue BMW and finished our hotdogs on the way. "Donny, this is Archibald Jackson, he's making a documentary." "Mhniche to mheet yough." I said, swallowing my hotdog. "The pleasure is all mine," said Archibald, reaching his hand out for me to shake it. I grabbed his hand, it was suprisingly cold and he had a large scar on the back of his hand. Other than that, it was a normal handshake. Mr. Whitehall chimed in, "Donny just got done filming a nature documentary that looks lovely, I can't think of a better student to help you with your project." Archibald nodded, "What's the documentary about?" I asked, "Ghosts," replied Archibald, curtly. I was taken aback, "There are ghosts in Bend?" "There are ghost's everywhere," Archibald replied. "Well, Donnatelo did an excellent scary movie in his second year, I'm sure he'll be a great help." Said Mr. Whitehall. "Do you have any gear?" I asked Archibald. "It's in the trunk." Archibald went around to the back of the car and opened the trunk. Inside was a treasure trove, 10 tins of 16mm, a brand new Arriflex, a Nagra tape recorder, blank cassette tapes, a cassette recorder, a light reader, a light kit, a professional tripod, and a slate that read: "Midnight at the End of the World. Reel 5, Scene 3A, Take 1." I was excited, Archibald shut the trunk abruptly, "Is that all you need?" I nodded, "Yeah, just give me a second." Archibald walked back to his driver's side door and continued his cigarette, I pulled Mr. Whitehall aside. "Well, what do you think?" Mr. Whitehall asked. "Who is this guy?" I asked him, Mr. Whitehall put his hand on my shoulder, "He's a man you could learn from, he's taken life by the horns and travelled all over the US trying to make his documentary." "Yeah, but what's all the ghost stuff about?" Mr. Whitehall sighed, "It's a niche interest, what can I say? It's a new world Donny, the free spirit is king." I couldn't argue with him, "But what's up with the eyepatch?" "He's probably a vet, just try not to stare." I nodded and thanked Mr. Whitehall for the opportunity. I approached Archibald, "Alright, how much are you paying me?" "$500 bucks for the rest of the day, and a reel of film if you come with me right now." I said goodbye to Clancy and Mr. Whitehall, and got into the car with the cyclops.
"Archibald, right?" I asked, "You can call me Archie, if you want." "Alright Archie, where are we headed?" "Elm street." "That's where the ghosts are?" "Maybe." "Well, why Elm street?" "I got a tip." "About a ghost?" "About oddities." "Who'd you get the tip from?" I asked as Archibald lit another cigarette, "She said her name was Annabelle Terwilleger." "Ms. Terwilleger? The old shut in that ends all her sentences by clicking her tongue?" "That's her." "Listen Archie, I know you're new to town, but you can't trust crazy people like her, especially about ghosts." We pulled into a red light, Archibald exhaled smoke and washed his cigarette, "The spirits like crazy people." I looked at his good eye, "Why's that?" His eye didn't leave the road, "It's easier for them to get into their heads." I stared at him trying to piece together what I was a part of, I couldn't think of any more rational questions to ask, so we continued to drive in silence.
We arrived at the Terwilleger residence and pulled into the driveway, I could see the old bat spying through the curtains, she saw me and started to grimace, I turned away to open the door. Archibald knocked once and the door swung open, "Why is that little shit here? *click*" She was talking about me, "That's harsh," I said, defiantly. She grabbed Archibald's sleeve, "Last night, him and his friends pissed on my rose bush and told me I had cock breath." Archibald looked at me with a stoic expression, "Is she telling the truth?" "Maybe," I replied. Archibald turned back to Ms. Terwilleger, "Let's talk about this inside." Archibald motioned for me to watch the car, and him and Ms. Terwilleger went inside and talked for about 15 minutes. When he came out, he approached me alone, "We're looking for something that's in her shed, she claims that she saw a goblin walking on 4 legs every night for the past week." "A goblin?" "Maybe a goblin, maybe not. Get set up in the backyard." I nodded and started to unpack the trunk, "So what did she say about me allegedly pissing on her rose-bush?" Archibald nodded, "I had to give her $50 bucks for the damage, so I'm only paying you 450 bucks now." "Can't argue with that math," I replied, no laugh from Archie. "Is there film already loaded in the camera?" I asked, "I don't know, I haven't touched it since my last filmer died in an accident." I stopped, "An accident?" "During a summoning, he didn't listen to me." He lit a cigarette and we left it there, and here I thought Clancy was the weirdest guy in Bend. I set up the tripod in front of the shed. "Are you ready?" Asked Archie, "Yeah." "Well, say action." He said in a deadpan voice. "Action." I sighed. The camera was running and the cassette deck was recording the surrounding area. Archibald unzipped his varsity jacket, and I saw his holster. I was speechless as he pulled out a Dirty Harry sized Magnum pistol and cautiously opened the shed door. The shed was dark and empty. Before I could say anything, a cat ran out of the dark shed and scared me. Archibald holstered his pistol and looked inside the shed, "No goblin," he said. He went back into the house to talk to Ms. Terwilleger. Once I had all the stuff packed into the trunk, I started a cigarette and tried to cope with what was happening, I realized I only had 3 cigarettes left, I must have smoked most of the pack last night. But looking at the pack, I realized it wasn't the one I remembered, which meant I bought a second pack last night, too. I really cut loose, God help me. Curious, I went to Ms. Terwilliger's rose bush and saw a cigarette butt belonging to the pack I bought last night, mystery solved, I guess. I walked back to the car and Archibald came out and got into the car, I approached the passenger side window, "Hey man, what's up with the gun?" Archibald looked down to where his holster was underneath his varsity jacket, "I have a permit." "That's not exactly what I mean, you can't shoot ghosts, can you?" Archibald nodded, "This gun can." I should have called it quits, but I needed the money, so I ignored the ghost slaying gun and got back in the car.
The drive was silent. We arrived to a familiar looking house, Archibald knocked on the door and Daniel's grandmother answered. "Ms. Collins! How are you?" I asked, "Not so good, Donny, Daniel didn't come last night, you wouldn't know where he is, would you?" "I was with him last night, but I don't remember where he might have ended up, I'll tell you if I find him." "Thank you, dear." She said, sweetly. "Come on in, and have some tea." I sat next to Ms. Collins on the couch and Archibald started his investigation, "So tell me what's wrong," "Oh there's a terrible moaning that comes from the cellar every night, I don't know what it could be." Archie nodded and continued, "Have you seen any visions? Any sudden physical changes? Maybe changes in the house?" "No, I don't think so." Archibald nodded, "Have you heard any voices that aren't your own?" "Yes! When I'm lying in bed, I hear a man's voice, is that bad?" Archibald nodded no, "It's perfectly normal to sometimes hear voices before you go to bed," "Really?" I asked, Archibald replied, "Yes, you only need to worry if you start hearing them all the time. That would be a mental health issue, and spirits are attracted to that. Are you healthy?" "Healthy enough, no lingering voices, just my hip." Archibald stood up and looked towards me, "Let's get the camera set up next to the cellar." Cut to: Ext. Cellar, day. Archibald takes his gun out to the surprise of Ms. Collins and my day is feeling longer and longer. Archie swung the hatch open and looked inside, he crept in closer, he looked serious. "There's something down there." He said, readying his side arm. I had a bad feeling that Daniel might have stumbled into the cellar late at night, so I broke my directorial silence, "Archie, easy with the gun, man." He looked at me and stated, "You don't know what might be down there," just as he said that, a cat ran out of the cellar at mach speed. The three of us watched the cat run down the block with a screeching meow. Archibald entered the cellar and soon came out with his gun holstered. He approached Ms. Collins, "Looks like a cat got stuck down there, if you hear anymore moaning tonight, call me at the Royal Inn." Ms. Collins thanked him and handed over an envelope, my suspicion is mounting. Archibald got into the car and I took Ms. Collins aside to talk, "What was in the envelope?" I asked Ms. Collins. "Oh it was my payment to Mr. Jackson." I was surprised that he was charging for this. I said I would try and find Daniel and got back into the car. "I thought we were just filming for a documentary." "We are." "Then why did you take money from Ms. Collins?" Archibald looked at me for a moment, and then back to the road, "I'm a private investigator that needs to eat." I got angry, "Do you really think it's cool to take money from confused old ladies?" Archibald turned his head away from me, "I gave them a discounted rate." "And how much is that?" "500 dollars." "That's how much you're paying me!" I was ready to burst, I was filming a documentary with a scam artist. Archibald didn't say anything and I calmed down after a while, "Where are we going now?" I asked, "A farm, last stop. And to remind you again, I'm only paying you $450." "This is unbelievable." I said, hoping it wouldn't be another cat.
We arrived to the farm, stepped out of the car, and approached a small farmhouse with a wood porch. The owner stepped out with a shotgun and pointed it at me. I raised my hands, and Archibald reached for his holster. "Whoa whoa!" I pleaded with the hostile farmer. "This is the bastard that fucked with my cows last night!" My heart sank, I would be killed by a farmer because of some stupid shit I don't even remember, Archibald remained calm, "Why don't you put down the shotgun, John?" Yes, his name was farmer John, he took a look at Archibald's gun and cut his losses, "That bastard was out with his friend's tipping my cows and now they all ran off." Said Farmer John, "How many cows did you have?" Asked Archibald. "Bout 50," replied the farmer. "Would $450 cover it?" Archibald asked, "No, they're worth a little bit more than that." Archibald looked at me, I wasn't about to get off empty handed, "Listen, I don't remember messing with your livestock, but I don't think I could hide 50 cows in an evening." Archibald turned back to Farmer John, "Maybe they ran away." "Not likely," said the farmer, "The whole farm's surrounded by fencing." Archibald nodded, "Wood fences. I'm gonna take a drive around the property if that's alright." Farmer John nodded, "Be my guest," he stared into my soul before he went back into the house, probably to drink some sarsaparilla, the crazy fuck. Archibald and I got back into the car and I recorded from the passenger seat. "Does everybody in this town hate you?" Asked Archibald, without a lick of sarcasm. "If I knew I caused this much trouble, I wouldn't have left my apartment." I said. Archibald replied, "Maybe take it easy on the booze for awhile." We left it at that, and I stopped recording the empty field in front of me to save film. Archibald jerked in the driver's seat, which shocked me a little bit, "See another cat?" I asked. "No," he replied, and parked the car on the side of the fence. "I see something," he said dispassionately. I stepped out of the car and started filming, then I saw the fence through the lens. A cow sized portion of the fence was mangled and destroyed, Archibald asked me for the tape recorder so I handed it to him. He pressed record and started speaking, "It would seem the cows on Farmer John's farm have chewed their way out of the enclosure." He stopped the recording and called me to cut; his performance was a little underwhelming, but I wasn't expecting Marlon Brando. He walked over to me and I asked a question, "Did you say the cows chewed through the wooden fence?" "Yeah, you can get a close-up of the teeth marks and saliva." Worried, I went over to the fence and recorded the teeth marks and saliva made from the cows chewing through the fence. "Why would they do this?" I asked, "I have theories." Archibald replied. "Like what?" I asked, "They were trying to run away from something." Just as I was about to say something, I saw a group of cats running for the hills away from the farm, I managed to get a pretty good shot of them running up and over out of view. "What in the world, did you see those cats?" I looked at Archibald, he did. We quickly got into the car and drove to where we thought the cows and cats might be headed. After about 5 minutes, we got to the Bend city limits, and saw a herd of cows and other animals on the dirt field on the side of the road with a sign that read Bend, Oregon. My heart started beating as I recorded dogs, cats, and other livestock crowded around outside of Bend. "What in the world?" I asked. Archibald parked, got out of the car, and started a cigarette. I propped up next to him and started my own cigarette while I rested the camera on the hood of the car. "I guess we can tell Farmer John where his cows are now." I said, "This is a much bigger problem, Donny." I looked up at the grazing animals lazily, "How do you mean?" "Animals don't usually do this, something's very wrong with this town." I looked at Archibald, he seemed subtly aggravated. "The light reader," he said, as if he had an epiphany. "What does the light reader have anything to do with this?" I asked, "I didn't see you use it, how did you know what to set the camera to?" I took a shallow drag of my cigarette and replied, "I've been shooting a nature documentary for the past week, with the fog that rolled in, the light's been pretty consistent." "You said the fog has been here for a week?" he asked, "Week and a half, about." "There's something having to do with the fog that's making the animals do this." I looked at him sideways, "And how do you figure that?" "I've seen something similar, if the animals were afraid of the fog, they would have ran away earlier, but something's happening today." "Maybe it's an earthquake." "They stay put for an earthquake, this is different." we leaned against the car and finished out cigarettes, "Well who cares about the fog, just get the money from the farmer so we can go home." Archibald looked at me, "I didn't come to Bend to find cattle, I came here for something bigger." "Bigger?" I asked, "The visions told me it's about the size of a snow globe, but it's scope of power is big." "Visions?" "Yes, visions. I lost my device to locate it, so I'm shit out of luck now." "A device to locate a snowglobe?" "A device that picks up on large amounts of spiritual energy within a certain distance. Somebody stole it off me last night when I was distracted by a bar fight." It sounded like a load of horseshit, as soon as I thought that, a small herd of horses came running out of the city limits. Talk about a freaky friday. However there were still no ghosts, so I said to Archibald, "Well, I guess we are shit out of luck." I felt bad for him in that moment, he was clearly a very confused man. I spoke up, "You know, when I was a kid, I saw the boogie man underneath my bed, but it was just some old laundry, however, even though I knew it was still just laundry, I couldn't get the idea of the boogie man out of my head. You just need to calm down and assess what's real and what's fake." "Did you ever get over the boogie man?" Archibald asked, "Eventually," I said, "But my mother had to make a protection charm, tell you the truth I still carry it with me to this day." Archibald went silent for a second and then spoke up, "Protection charm..." "Yeah, I keep it with me in my coat jacket pocket, check it out." I reached into my coat pocket to show Archibald, and I felt something that didn't belong. It was big, the size of a calculator, confused, I pulled it out. It was a small device with one big red button and a calculator screen, I didn't recognize it, but Archie did. In one swift motion, Archibald had me up against the car and had taken the device from me, his eyes were on fire. "Where did you get this?" he asked in his usual tone, "I don't remember! I swear, please!" his grip only tightened, he looked into my eyes and his gaze made me shake involuntarily, I can't explain it. "Let me tell you something, my boogie men are real, Donny." He pushed me for good measure and placed his hand he was grabbing me with over top of the device. I could only see the side of his face with the eyepatch, he wasn't frowning, he didn't seem mad, but I knew he was. He turned to me with a lesser look, "Did you use this?" "I don't remember taking it!" I said, exhausted, "It's only got one use left on it." "Are the batteries dead or something?" "These don't run on batteries, they run on immaterial energy." I was confused and scared, I wanted to go home. "Shit," Archibald said under his breath, "We're going to have to use it anyway." Archibald got closer to me and said, "Now listen carefully, once I use this, something is going to come out, I need you to take a pen and paper and write down the coordinates I read to you, hide behind the car and film what you can." Archibald took the tape recorder off from the top of the car and placed it on the hood, setting it to record. Shellshocked, I grabbed the camera and started recording, "Rolling," I said. Archibald took several paces away from the BMW and pressed the big red button, he began reading coordinates, "44.0582° N, 121.3153° W, you got that?" I forgot to write them down in the hustle, "Yeah," I lied. Archibald threw the device down and got his pistol out. I took a wide shot of the area, Oregon's natural beauty juxtaposed with a crazed gunman picking a fight with a graphing calculator. Just then, a faint screech started coming from the device, the faint screech slowly began getting louder and louder until the device started to vibrate in the grass, just then, the device popped like a firecracker, it was a little underwhelming. I took a breath and remembered that Archie was crazy and that there's no such thing as ghosts. My shoulders were tense and began to relax as Archie took another step away from the device. Then all hell broke loose, a something transparent started to grow around the device like a misty bubble, it expanded briefly and flew apart into a form reminiscent of a woman covered in robes, I looked through the camera lens to make sure I was getting it on the viewfinder, it's cold dead, translucent eyes were looking right at me, time stood still as I saw its mangled face, just as it was about to open its mouth, Archibald shot. The ghost recoiled and let out a ghastly scream, and then it disappeared into thin air. The shot spooked the animals, who ran far away.
My world had changed, ghosts were real, and Archibald seemed much different. I thought about my girlfriend's reaction to the footage, and the look on the photography student's look on their face as they develop real footage of a ghost. Archibald approached me with his gun holstered, "Do you know how much that device was worth?" "No, how much?" "Millions." I wasn't familiar with black market pricing of haunted calculators, so I took his word for it, "Listen, I'm sorry I used it, but it might not have been me." "It was with you, you're paying for it." I started to choke up, I didn't know what was happening, "Did you write down the coordinates?" "No," I sobbed. Archibald started another cigarette, "We can't stop them if we can't find them, I suggest you leave Bend." "Why? What's going on?" "There's a capsulation device that's about to be activated somewhere in Bend that will enclose everyone and everything into a soul prison, since we can't find it, we can't stop it. I suggest grabbing as many friends you care about as you can and leave." "Why would anyone do that?" "Soul prisons harvest the energy of living beings into useful immaterial energy that can be used to power spiritual devices and other magic, it's essentially a life powered battery. It's especially lucrative, but I've never seen it on this scale." I tried to process all of the information, "So you're saying that there's a secret organization in Bend Oregon planning on putting everybody in a soul prison?" Archibald nodded, "That's what I said." "And what is a soul prison?" "Bad news," Archibald stated. I couldn't argue with that logic, I started thinking about Veronica and Eric and Clancy, and the reality of my situation. I dug my hands into my coat jacket pockets and gripped my mother's charm. The thin metal was cool to touch, but I felt something next to it, a scrap of paper. I opened up the small note in my pocket, and to my surprise there was something written on it in poor handwriting, "44.0582° N, 121.3153° W -Clancy" I couldn't believe it. I got excited and shouted at Archibald, "I've got it!" Archibald jerked around to look at me, "Got what?" I handed him the note, "Do you know where this is?" Archibald looked at the note, then back up to me, "I can try it on the GPS." "What's GPS?" Archibald opened the driver's side door and pulled out a small monitor with a large antenna and keyboard, he typed in the coordinates and looked satisfied. "Get in," he said, bringing the monitor inside the car and resting it on the dashboard. "Who's Clancy?" Archibald asked while I got into the passenger seat, "The guy I was with when I met you earlier," I replied. Archibald grunted, "He's good," and peeled out fast. Archibald was locked on the road, shifting quickly without even looking at the clutch, and taking corners fast. I had to grab onto the door, I was getting thrown off my seat during turns, and being pressed against my back during the straightaways. Archibald looked like this was how he always drove. Evnentually we got to the middle of nowhere, Archibald parked on a hill. I unbuckled my seatbelt, but Archibald told me to stay, he was looking out the window. I squinted, and faint in the distance was the glowing of two cigarettes. Archibald took out a pair of binoculars and spied on the two men. "Two of them," Archibald said, handing the binoculars to me. Peeking through the binoculars, I saw two men I knew to be members of the school's staff. "They work for the school," I said. Archibald handed me a tape recorder, "I want you to record their conversation." "I don't think making a documentary is on the top of my priorities right now." Archibald's eyelids closed half-way, "Information is key right now, don't worry I'll cover you." With those words of encouragement, I took a deep breath and left the car. I crouched in the dark wooded area and got to the decrepit building. I got up close to the men outside smoking and eavesdropped on their conversation. They weren't talking about much, so without much forethought, I clicked down on the tape recorder. The click was loud enough that the two guys stopped talking for a second. My stomach dropped, "Who's there?" I hear one of them say. I fucked up big time, I could hear their footsteps getting closer, I was paralyzed by fear. The atmosphere of impending doom penetrated my thoughts and I sat there holding the tape recorder, shaking. I thought those guys were most likely armed so I hoped Archibald could do something quick. And right on cue, I hear, "Huh?" Coming from both of the men like they rehearsed it, followed by what sounded like a double judo chop and a thud. By this point, the wind had returned to my lungs, I hadn't realized I wasn't breathing. I started heaving and looked up to see Archibald standing above me, "In and out, don't die on me, now." He helped me up and I turned the corner to see both men unconscious. Upon further inspection, they were members of the school's faculty, "This is Mr. Jennings and Mr. Klein. Jenning works in administration and Mr. Klein was someone I saw around, I don't know." Archibald started inspecting the wall behind them and said, "Looks like they were caught up in a fat payday. Help me look for a switch." I clicked the tape recorder off and set it down to look for a secret passageway. After a few seconds, Archibald found a lightswitch behind a rock and opened the hatch. The opening was faintly lit, down the stairs, you could see the top of a man's head coming towards the opening. Archibald and I sidestepped away from the opening, Archibald took out his gun and trained it head level in front of the door. I waited. The man obliviously walked through the open doorway out from the secret passage and freaked out for a second when he saw his friends on the ground. Archibald knocked him out with the butt of his gun like he's been doing it since the day he was born. A perfect flick of his wrist connected to the back of his head and his ass hit the ground fast. Everything was getting more surreal by the moment, but I was getting a little excited. Even though this isn't how I imagined my day going, I thought of all the news coverage and all the people that might not believe a single word that comes out of my mouth. Archibald took a couple steps down the stairs and I stopped him, "Hey man." "What is it?" "Well, it's just uh… How do I put this." "If you're worried about them waking up, we still have another hour and a half." "It's not that, although, that's a load off my mind." Archibald looked at me expectantly, I managed to trip over my words, "I think it would be better for posterity if we try and film some of this shit." Archibald raised his eyebrows, it was the first time I saw him surprised. I surprised myself, why the fuck would I enter the lions den of unknown horror equipped with a camera alone? In hindsight, I can safely say that I underestimated the firepower of my university's staff, and secretly I wanted to record Archibald knocking another guy out with the butt of his gun. Archibald shrugged, "Go run and get it, I'll check downstairs." I nodded and sprinted to the camera in the trunk and changed the roll of film in just under 30 seconds. I jogged back with the super 16 camera and hit record as I started down the stairs. The frame was dark, except for a cone of light made by a flashlight I grabbed from the trunk. I got to the base of the staircase and opened the door into the secret fortress. Archibald was choking out the last remaining guard, the 5 others laid scattered around a poker table. Cigarettes were scattered on the floor next to a broken ashtray. The last bit of consciousness faded from the guard's face and Archibald laid off the gas and let him drop to the floor. The film that spun in the camera gave a soft hum, Archibald spoke, "You might want to sit this one out." I snapped out of it, "Fat fucking chance." I wasn't going to let something this crazy slip through my fingers, Archibald looked for another door. I cut the camera to save tape and felt my heart race, I didn't know what to expect.